Adventuring with Tettia and Tora
by Crona-Cron
Summary: Several months after the death of her husband, Alibaba, Tettia and Tora are sent back in time to when Sinbad was just starting out on the path that would lead him to be Sindria's King. What will happen when they see everyone they knew from their present while they were younger? Can the best friends keep their mouths shut about the future? M for language and adult situations.
1. Damn it, Tora

**Chapter One: What Did You Do?!**

* * *

Tora and Tettia sat in the purplenette's large house, which she shared with Masrur and his other two, lesser wives (compared to Tora, who was Masrur's original wife). It had been a few months since everything went down and Alibaba was _killed_ , and the purplenette could tell her half-Fanalis best friend was missing the blond terribly. "Wanna do something fun, Tet?" she asked, smirking at the red-head.

Looking up from the table they were sitting at, Tettia spoke quietly, "What kind of fun?"

"I dunno~ how about being a fucking starfish for a day?!" exclaimed the purplenette.

Rolling her red eyes, Tettia replied, "No, how about no. Masrur! Tora's trying to get me to be a starfish with her!"

Masrur popped his head in from another room and looked at Tora. "No. You are not to do that… understand, Tora?" he sternly said.

"What the hell are you gonna do if I do it, huh?! Marry another woman?!" exclaimed Tora, getting ready to do the spell.

Tettia's eyes widened. "Tora! Tora, no! Stop it," exclaimed an increasingly horrified half-Fanalis.

Tora smiled evilly as she mockingly whipped (the dance move, do not ask) and a poof of smoke surrounded both her and Tettia. "Well, this is new… usually we'd just flop to the floor and say _blueh_. What happened," questioned the purplenette as she looked around.

The half-Fanalis rubbed her temple. "What did you do?! Where are we? This isn't your house, Tor…" she muttered.

"Yeah, thanks for fucking pointing out the obvious, Tet. I don't know _where_ we are, so don't ask me!" retorted the purplenette, who was very confused as well.

Tettia groaned, "I told you not to fucking do that! Gah! Now we don't know where we even are!"

"Look, I'm sorry! I didn't think I would do _this_! I never have fucking done _this_ before! This is totally fucking new," exclaimed a confused Tora.

Taking in their surroundings, the half-Fanalis noticed that they were in the mountains, specifically a mountain pass. "Hey, Tora… you do realize that we're in a mountain pass, aye? One I've never seen before either," said the red-head.

Whipping her head to look back at Tettia, Tora's mouth hung open to speak; however, a very — familiar — male's voice came as a response, "Sasan Kingdom, huh… a place carriages can't go through and can only be reached by crossing a mountain range on foot… what business do we have in this country?"

Another male's voice, higher in pitch — like that of a pre-pubescent child came as a reply, "Sasan is a natural mining town surrounded by mountains on all sides. Metal produced in Sasan is noted for having the highest quality and best purity in the world. Recently, this country even became trading partners of Reim's. For the fledgling Sindria Trading Company, we need to secure a trading route through Sasan for our future."

Tettia and Tora looked at one another. " _Fledgling Sindria Trading Company_?!" they both exclaimed in a hushed whisper. "Tora did you do what I think you did?!" hissed Tettia.

"I don't know, Tet! Let's go towards the voices, yeah?" Tora hissed back.

Nodding, Tettia and Tora walked towards the voices. The duo followed the deeper voice as it said to the young boy, "But… while we're gone, is it really okay to leave the company in the hands of Vittel and Mahad? Rurumu is there, too, but she also has to look after our child, so she won't be working."

"It'll be fine. Vittel is working hard to become the company accountant, and even though Mahad is silent, he observes people well and is good at taking care of employees. I'm not worried if it's those two. Besides," came a familiar voice to the best friends.

As they rounded a corner, the two girls come face to face with three men, well, one was a child. The three men looked _very_ familiar to the two girls. The ponytail bearing purple-haired man was looking away from the red-head and purplenette, looking at his two friends far behind him. Pinkish-red and crimson eyes clashed with one another, _WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!_ they thought. Turning their gazes away from each other, the duo looked down at the boys the purple-haired boy was talking to: a white-haired, freckle-faced boy and a giant bluenette.

Unbeknownst to the young purple-haired man, there were two women standing in his path. He continued to talk, "This is our first time in this country, so as the head of the company, I have to go… ri—" he was cut off as he walked into Tettia.

Snapping his golden gaze forward, the young man looked Tettia in the face as they stumbled. Quickly grabbing the red-head's waist, the young purple-haired man steadied themselves so they would not fall, causing the red-head woman to squeak in response. Tora had jumped a good ten feet away, so she would not go down with them, should they have fallen.

Tettia had screwed her eyes tightly shut, having braced to the impact with the ground that never came. After a few moments of nothing happening, she peaked her eyes open, only to have a very similar male's face only inches away from her own. Remaining silent, Tettia's eyes analyzed the young man's face. The easy smile, the golden eyes, the gold hoop earrings… she had a vague idea who this young man was, and the notion was enough to have Tettia's face turn tomato red.

"I'm sorry, miss…? What is your name," asked the young man.

Tettia bit her lip, embarrassed by the closeness of their faces, whether it was intentional or not. "M-my name is Tettia… but you can call me Tet," she stuttered.

He smiled and replied, "Nice to meet you, Tet. I'm Sinbad, head of the Sindria Trading Company! Hey! Ja'far, Hinahoho! Come up here and meet two girls that are up here!"

"There is no way there are women here. You just want a woman to be here for you," said Ja'far as he and Hinahoho walked up. They were stunned to find that there were, indeed, two women.

Tora looked from Sinbad, who was still holding Tettia's waist, to the young Ja'far. She slapped her hands over her mouth to try and stop hysteric laughter from erupted; however, it failed and Tora burst out laughing. "What the fuck did I do?! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Look at how small everyone is!" laughed Tora.

Sinbad then realized he was still looking intensely into Tettia's eyes, holding her close to him. "Oh, my apologies, I'm sure that was quite uncomfortable," he apologized.

Tettia waved her hands in front of her tomato-red face. "Oh no… I-I'm fine. That wasn't uncomfortable… I just didn't know what to think…" she trailed off to mutter to herself, "…with you being young and that close to my face…"

"Who is your friend, miss? And why is she rolling on the ground?" asked Ja'far, looking down at the purplenette.

Tettia pulled Tora up off the ground. "Tora! Introduce yourself!"

"Fuck you, bitch! But, sup, I'm Tora. I'm Tet's best friend, so do anything bad to her and you're dead. Also note, I am fucking scary when you piss me off so… _don't piss me off_ ," said Tora, looking over at Sinbad.

Sinbad immediately threw his hands up in the air. "Why are you so hostile with me, Kitty?" he asked, apparently knowing what her name meant.

Immediately, Tora drop-kicked Sinbad into the nearby rock-face. "YOU DON'T GET TO CALL ME THAT!"

Blatantly ignoring what her best friend just did, Tettia kneeled down and held out a hand towards the young Ja'far. "Hello, nice to meet you, Mist— I mean, Ja'far; I am Tettia but you can call me Tet. May I call you Jaffy?"

Ja'far reached out and shook her hand, "Nice to meet you to, too, Tet…" he said.

"I'm Hinahoho, nice to meet the both of you," said the blue-haired giant, with a sweet smile.

Tora appeared beside Tettia. "We're all gonna be the fucking best of friends! Especially two certain people," said Tora as she nudged Tettia.

Tettia knew exactly what she was referring to. "Gah, you're impossible. Did you leave Sin…bad making out with that rock-wall?" questioned the red-head as she looked over at Sinbad. Sure enough, he was still eating the rock wall. The half-Fanalis walked over to Sinbad and removed him from the wall. "There you are, can you stand?" she asked.

"My head still is spinning. In all honesty," he said.

Tettia wrapped one of his arms around her neck and held him up. "Tell me when your head stops spinning," she said.

Ja'far and Hinahoho looked at the red-head in awe, how could she hold up Sinbad? "How is she doing that?" asked the young white-haired boy.

Tora rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Tet's showing off that she is a half-Fanalis. Bitch, put your husband down and get over here!"

"TORA!" yelled Tettia, snapping her head to glare at the purplenette. She would not be dropping Sinbad. "One, he's not my husband — he doesn't even know me well enough! Two, shut the fuck up!"

The purplenette smirked. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that. I'm sure he can get to know you really quickly."

"TORA!"

"What?!"

Rolling her crimson eyes, Tettia looked at Sinbad. "Anyways, should we continue, Sin?"

Sinbad looked over at Tettia and smiled lopsidedly, "Yes, please!"

"Onwards!" exclaimed Tettia as walked forward, Sinbad not leaning on her as much anymore.

Hinahoho walked beside Tettia and ruffled Sinbad's hair. "Also, you say that, but you really just wanted to go on an adventures, didn't you?"

Tettia and Tora laughed as Sinbad retorted, "Haha! A new country really makes me excited!"

"Geez… what a kid," both Ja'far and Tora sighed out loud.

The red-head lightly pushed Tora's shoulder. "Hey! You can't put him down, you got excited as hell when you realized where we are," she exclaimed.

Huffing, Tora crossed her arms as they walked. "He's still a kid…" They came into the view of the city and it was an amazing sight. The large city was seemingly carved into the mountain. The Sasan kingdom: a small country built on a high elevation at the base of a mountain. It is a religiously devout country that believed in the old gods. Sasan calls the outside world impure and has broken off exchanges with other countries. Consequently, it was often called _The Pure Land_.

Immediately, everyone was amazed. "A-amazing!" exclaimed Sinbad and Tettia.

"Everywhere I look is gold and silver!" gushed Tora.

 _We have to get our hands on these mineral resources no matter what! Gold! Gold!_ thought a greedy Ja'far.

However, the Sasan kingdom want nothing to do with visitors. One of the citizens noticed the outsiders and said, "Outsiders?! Oh… they're pagans from the impure world, we mustn't have anything to do with him."

A soldier came up behind the outsiders and said, "Except for a select few, in this country they have no exchange with the outside world. Please refrain from any conspicuous behavior." The soldier escorted them to the Diplomatic tower of the palace.

"You want to trade with Sasan? Impossible!" said the diplomatic chief.

Apparently, Tettia and Tora were now lumped in with Sinbad and the Sindria Trading Company. "Eh?" questioned Sinbad.

"Sasan doesn't interact with the outside world. I cannot accept any transactions with your company… so, please go home," he said.

Ja'far jumped in, "Please wait! Excuse my rudeness, but you're currents exchanging iron and mineral resources with the Reim Empire. As a company from Reim, why are you unwilling to do business with us? I don't understand."

"That's nothing more than an offering as proof of the friendship between the Reim Empire and the Sasan kingdom. Sasan's resourced are all blessings from the Gods. The Reim Empire taught us their beliefs, so it can be said that we are comrades. They're not things to sell to pagan merchants. Sasan will not approve of anyone that does not have their proper spirit. If you understand, then please go home."

Tettia and Tora stood behind Hinahoho, keeping their mouths shut. They did not know what to do in this time period. Ja'far started to say something, but was cut off by Sinbad. "… if that is the case, I'd like you to teach me. Not as a merchant, but as an individual, what can I do to build up a friendship with Sasan…?" asked a confident young Sinbad. "I wonder what I can do for your country. I want us to share our cultures, faiths and my resolve to work together. If it's for the future of this country, I can do anything."

Tettia's breath caught in her throat as she looked at the young Sinbad. Tora noticed this and nudged her, whispering, "You have it _so bad_ and you haven't even known this King Moron for even an hour."

"S-shut up… he's still basically the same…" whispered Tettia.

"Except that he doesn't know you like our good, _old_ King Moron does. He just met you and you both basically almost kissed not even five minutes after getting here," whispered Tora.

Rolling her eyes, Tettia whispered back, "Shut up…"

"Well… Sasan welcomes like-mindedness and we won't refuse devout followers. If you truly desire to build up a friendship with Sasan, visit the Sasan Knights. The Sasan Knights are a group of high-ranking clergymen who synthesize Sasan's doctrine and are the absolute guide for our citizens… among them, there is the secretary-general of the Sasan Knights: the Knight King, Darius Leoxses. The top-ranking knight who protects Sasan, the most powerful person in this country. If you can get the knights to accept you, then the kingdom will accept you as a comrade. However, they prize doctrine more than anything in Sasan, and are its strictest followers… it won't be easy."

Sinbad had a determined look in his eyes. "Hmm… Sasan Knights, huh? Sounds interesting. They really exist. Okay! I'll go and have a talk with the Knights right now! Thanks for the assistance, wise-man," exclaimed Sinbad as he bolted towards the exit.

Tettia sighed and followed after him, once again, she will have to make sure that the idiot does not do something too stupid. "Wait! If we are rude to the knights who control the power in Sasan, we won't be able to remain in this country?!" exclaimed a worried Ja'far.

"He can't hear you," said Hinahoho and Tora.

Outside, Sinbad neared a young lady, but Tettia stopped him. Grabbing him by his collar and lifting him away from her, she asked, "Ma'am, may I bother you to ask where we can find the knights?"

"Uh… in the highest part of the city," replied the woman.

Waving, Tettia walked off, still hold Sinbad by the collar. "Thank you ma'am," she thanked.

At the highest part of the city, Sinbad and his gang arrived at the gates. "Pardon me! Please let me join the knights!" he exclaimed with starry eyes.

Tettia pinched the bridge of her nose, this was Aladdin all over again. "We told you there'd be no damn response! Now let's go! I'm hungry," exclaimed Tettia.

The purplenette snickered. "I have some chocolate in my bag, should you need it," she muttered to the red-head.

"We both know that's a lie," retorted the red-head.

In response to Tettia's previous statement, Sinbad twirled around to look at her. "I want to join the knights, Tet! Therefore, I will! Ah! There goes the Knight King!" he exclaimed, quickly turning away from the red-head and bounded towards the gate.

Tettia face-palmed, groaning, "Why! Tor, he's like you… but worse…"

"All right, I'll try boldly from the front…" said Sinbad, but was cut off by the guards' spears. "Why?! I'm not suspicious! Ok, just let me speak to him."

"You look suspicious by saying that," both girls said.

"Ruffian! Suspicious person!" exclaimed soldier reinforcements.

Sinbad ran away, "Reinforcements! Run!"

They ran back to the trading facility, where they all sat eating. Tettia and Sinbad were eating kababs while Hinahoho drank and Ja'far and Tora ate something else. "Well that was eventful…" said the purplenette.

"Yeah, it sure was. Thanks, Tora. We were supposed to have an _ordinary_ day!" hissed Tettia.

Tora looked at Tettia and sighed, pointing her fork at the red-head. "Look, woman, this is ordinary! You have been my friend for years and you damn-well know that is what I do!"

"True…" mumbled Tettia.


	2. Here We Go

**Chapter Two: What To Do Now?**

* * *

Hinahoho laughed hysterically as he spoke, "They paid so little attention to you that is was _really_ funny."

The Imuchakk's statement had the purplenette laughing hysterically as well, "It was _hilarious_ , wasn't it, Hina?!"

Tettia snickered quietly as she continued to eat her kabab. "It was rather funny…" she muttered.

Sinbad sighed as he ate. "I didn't think the knights would be so unaccommodating," he said fairly disappointedly.

The young Sinbad's statement had Tettia, Tora, and Ja'far shocked by his dense observation of why what happened happened. "Of course they're like that, moron! They're the motherfucking governing organization that protects this kingdom," exclaimed Tora, almost choking on her food.

"Even if we get kicked out of the country, you can't complain if they're rude. Keep that in mind…" said Ja'far quickly.

Sighing once again, Sinbad said, "Ok. I'll definitely get in next time. My intuition says I can do it!"

Tettia's head snapped towards the young purple-haired man with blank eyes. "Oh really? Is your intuition _anything_ like Tora's? Because if so, I hate to tell you, but you're sorely mistaken," she said.

Launching herself over the table (Tettia was sitting to the left of Sinbad, next to Hinahoho, and Tora sat in front of Tettia and Sinbad), Tora attempted to drop-kick her best friend; however, Tettia dodged the attack, sending Tora crashing into the table behind them. "MOTHERFUCKER!" shrieked Tora as she crashed into the table with a loud _BAM!_.

Looking over her shoulder, Tettia was smirking. "You okay there, Tor?" she asked in a sassy way.

"No the fuck I ain't! How are you compare my _amazing_ intuition with _that_ fucking moron's," yelled Tora, pointing angrily at Sinbad.

Hinahoho looked at Tora, and laughed even harder as she stomped back to her seat. "Well, you two sure are an interesting pair of friends, aren't you? Also, good, Sinbad. You gonna sneak in from the back? I'll help," he said, holding his cup of alcohol.

Tettia narrowed her eyes at Tora, replying to the purplenette's statement with a hiss, "Your _amazing_ intuition is what got us in this situation to begin with; _how_ can you say your intuition is better than his?!" After she said that, she turned her crimson gaze to Hinahoho as she answered his statement, "Also, yes, Hinahoho: we are an interesting pair of friends. I'll help too, Sin."

"I said I was sorry, bitch! You really think I _expected_ **_THIS_** to happen?! No! I didn't! My intuition is _still_ better than Capt'n Moron over there! I will also lend my fucking help to that Moron," exclaimed the purplenette, throwing her hands into the air.

Sinbad laughed at the duo's interactions, then replied to Hinahoho, "No, I want to enter fair and square! I won't do anything underhanded."

Violent jabbing his fork-full of meat at Sinbad, the young white-haired child exclaimed, "Are you _listening_ to me, Sin?! I'm telling you to stop provoking the knights. Stop going along with him, Lord Hinahoho, Miss Tettia, and Miss Tora!"

Slapping her hands onto the table and standing up, Tora looked threateningly at the young white-haired boy. "You wanna fucking go?! I'm not afraid to throw down with a ten-year-old! I don't give a _FUCK_ ," she exclaimed angrily.

"Tora, eat your meat," said Tettia.

"FUCK YOU!" exclaimed an agitated purplenette.

Tettia looked at her best friend and with a heavy sigh said, "That's not your job, Tor. That's nobody's job, currently."

Tora groaned loudly and sat down. "God I hate you sometimes! With your smart-assry bullshit," she hissed.

"But at the end of the day, you love me. Also, Jaffy, calm down. For us foreigners, leaving the trading facility — or rather, this designated area — at night is strictly forbidden. Meaning that we can't and won't do anything," said Tettia, looking at Ja'far with a smile.

Ja'far ruffled his own hair. "That's what I was _trying_ to say. We can only act during the day, so it's impossible to make progress with the knights now…" he spoke, almost growling.

Stuffing his face, Sinbad spoke, "…don't be so pessimistic, Ja'far. We're foreigners here. But, compared to the streets, there's plenty of food to eat; we've got warm beds, too. This country seems strict, but living like this isn't so bad. No need to rush things. Why not negotiate patiently with the knights?"

The two females looked at the young purple-haired man in surprise. "You guys lived on the streets?!" exclaimed the red-head.

"Dude, I never knew that's how you lived," said Tora.

"Sin…" said Ja'far.

"Besides…" began Sinbad as a Sasan woman came to take empty plates away. "It'd be a shame to have too little exposure here… Sasan's women are full of modest beauty," he finished, looking at the beautiful and modest retreating Sasan woman.

Everyone was not surprised by the young man's statement. "…women, huh?" mumbled Hinahoho and Tettia as they stuffed their faces with meat, the latter seemed saddened by the purple-haired man's comment. "…is was the women?" mumbled a blank-faced white-haired boy. Tora glared lazily at the young moron. "You say that when you have a pretty young lady right beside you, really? You really are stupid… just like you always are…" she muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose.

The half-Fanalis mumbled something incoherently in a flat, uncaring tone. It was then that Tettia noticed someone hiding behind some barrels. She propped her head up with her left hand as her eyes stared at the boy.

Sinbad, after tearing his eyes away from the Sasan women, noticed Tettia's eyes gazing into the distance. "Hey, you alright, Tet? You seem to be spacing off," he asked, bringing his drink to his lips.

Lightly shaking her head side-to-side, Tettia directed her eyes at Sinbad. "Oh… yeah, I'm fine. Even if I wasn't, it is not something you should worry about," she said flatly, picking at her food. Sinbad looked at her with concern, as did Tora. Tettia directed her crimson gaze back to the boy.

The boy stealthily moved through the room, tapping on the table to the right of Sinbad. "Hey. Hey, sir… I have a favor to ask… may I share this table with you?" asked the reddish-haired boy.

Taking in his appearance, Tettia noticed how his bangs went down the left side of his face, covering his left eye. His visible red eye looked up and to the left at Sinbad. _He's pretty cute_ , she thought to herself.

"There are plenty of open seats. You don't have to sit with us," explained Sinbad, pointing to the overturned table behind them (the one Tora crashed into) which had been set up right.

Sighing, Tettia spoke, "Sin, what if he has something important to say, hmm? Or what if he just wants to talk to some foreigners?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah! It's like she said, I just really wanna talk with you guys!" he exclaimed. "I can't ask anyone but travelers from the outside. The people of Sasan are forbidden to visit the outside world by our doctrine. Especially for me, as a knight apprentice, the precepts are very strict… travelers! Would you please teach a knight like me about the outside world?!"

Ja'far's eyes gleamed, that was their ticket to learn about Sasan as well. The white-haired boy immediately pulled up a chair, sat the young knight down and got food for him. "Please! Sir Knight, we'll be happy to help you with anything you request: food, stories of the outside world, anything," spoke a determined Ja'far.

"Well, take a seat, have a drink," said Hinahoho as he filled up the knight's cup.

Tettia looked at the knight with a sweet smile. "You're pretty cute," she said.

Her best friend snickered, "He is fairly cute, Tet!"

Sinbad raise his hand and exclaimed, "Miss! Please bring us some more!"

"Knight! If we can build a relationship here, we could gain a foothold into the Sasan Knights… right, Sin?" whispered the young Ja'far to Sinbad.

Sinbad gave a thumbs up and whispered back, "Yeah! Let's go!"

When the woman came back, she exclaimed, picking up the young knight, "Hey! This facility is for foreigners. Normal citizens, especially knights, aren't allowed in here! How many times do I have to tell you?!"

The young knight replied, "I know, but just for a little…"

"NO! Please think of your position! You're not just a knight… you're… you're the son of the Knight King, right?!" exclaimed the woman.

Everyone, but Sinbad, exclaimed in confusion, "Son of the Knight King?!" Sinbad exclaimed that with the biggest grin.

Setting the young knight down after punching him in head, the woman said, "He is Mystras. The son of the current Knight King, Darius."

Mystras smiled nervously and said, "I'm a candidate for the next Knight King."

Tettia and Tora smiled stupidly and looked at the Knight King Candidate. "Oh, even though I know that, I still find you really cute," said the half-Fanalis.

Mystras blushed and smiled at her. "Thank you, ma'am," he said.

"Oh please, call me Tet. My name is Tettia, but please call me Tet, cutie."

The young knight nodded, still smiling, "Okay, I will… Tet."

"If they found out you were here, Lord Mystras, it will considered a violation of your precepts and you'll be scolded by the Knights. So go on… go home. And stop talking so friendly-like with foreigners, they're not like us," exclaimed the woman.

"No, I don't wanna! I worked hard sneaking into this place! What do precepts and doctrine have to do with it?! I'm not going back until I get to hear about the outside world! Why would I stop talking to them, they all seem plenty friendly… especially Tet," exclaimed Mystras.

The woman was taken aback, "Wh-what are you saying?! You're a Knight…"

Sinbad grabbed the woman's hand and spoke sweetly, "He just wants to hear our stories, and we're happy to get a chance to speak with a Knight. Could you overlook this… just for a little while longer…" He smiled a sweet, charming smile that had the woman blushing.

"O-only for a little while," muttered the blushing woman.

The purple-haired man was thankful, "Thanks, miss."

Tora and Hinahoho crossed their arms over their chests. "As expected from Sin," they both said.

Ja'far stared at Sinbad and simply mumbled, "Wow…"

On the other hand, Tettia groaned irritatedly. "My fucking gods, no… this is just like that little pinkette _brat_ ," she mumbled, crossing her arms and pouting.

Quickly, Tora realized what her best friend was referring to, causing her to groan as well, "Oh fuck… you're right. I'm sorry, Tet." She put her hand on Tettia's shoulder.

"Ugh… it's fine," she muttered irritatedly.

Turning his attention to Mystras, Sinbad began, "I'm Sinbad. More specifically, the head of the Sindria Trading Company, a dungeon conqueror, and an adventurer."

Scoffing, Tettia added flatly to herself, "And a fucking womanizer, let's not forget that."

"A dungeon conqueror…? You're not just an ordinary traveler?" asked Mystras.

Realizing his name may not have spread that far, Sinbad continued, "Oh… that's right, my name hasn't traveled as far as Sasan yet. Then here, this is a book I wrote." The young man handed Mystras his book, which was a large scroll.

Mystras read the book and was amazed. "…You're the same age as me and you wrote this? Amazing! In such a confined country like Sasan, there aren't any people like you!"

The young knight's comment had the females curious. Leaning forward, closer to Mystras, Tettia asked, "And how old _are_ you, Mystras?"

"Sixteen," quickly replied the young knight.

Tora choked on her drink; she was sent into a coughing fit, slapping the table as she pounded her fist against her chest. "Y-you're _how fucking_ old?!" coughed the purplenette.

"He's _sixteen_ … which means that Sin… you're…?" questioned Tettia, unbelievingly.

Sinbad looked at the duo with a confused smile. "Yeah… I'm sixteen. How old are you two?" he asked.

"Nineteen," replied Tettia.

"Twenty," said Tora.

Mystras continued to read. After the trio's age conversation, Sinbad turned his attention back to the young knight. "Well, anyway… do you dislike Sasan, Mystras?" he asked.

The red-haired knight said slowly as he was reading, "…I don't know… if it's dislike… in this country. There's no freedom to decide your own way of living, and everyone's so serious and stuffy that it's boring. If I have to live in this confined country, I'd rather die breathing freely in the wide world."

"… I see," said Sinbad with a tender smile. "Then, in honor of meeting each other… I'll let you enjoy a breath of fresh air!" He drew his sword.

"Huh?" questioned Mystras.

Tettia noticed Sinbad drawing his sword. "Sin. Sinbad, no! Put your fucking sword up, right now!"

"You're not my mother," he replied, activating his Djinn. "Anyhow, it's not just a story in a book. I'll personally tell you. The tale of the adventures of Sinbad… begins now!"

Both the purplenette and her red-head friend rolled their eyes collectively. "At least this should be interesting. I never knew how Sin started out," said Tettia.

"Neither did I," agreed Tora.

Sinbad smiled at the girls and started, "Through many years, a man traveled the oceans and new lands throughout the world. He conquered a dungeon shrouded in mystery, becoming the first adventurer to obtain a great spiritual power. His name was…"

* * *

Mystras had left, and Tettia was actually entranced by Sinbad's story. "That was… actually a really good story, Sin," she said.

" _Story_!? Tet! That all happened!" exclaimed the young purple-haired man.

Tora yawned loudly, drawing attention to herself. "Can we go to bed?" she asked.

Snickering, Tettia replied, "You're always tired, Tora."

"Piss off, Tet! Despite me being hella tired, I can still kick your ass! I am going to go cuddle with our little killjoy Ja'far," spoke the tired purplenette.

The young _killjoy_ looked at Tora with wide obsidian eyes. "I never said you're sleeping in my room, Tora!"

Glaring at the young boy, Tora replied, "Well, I am, end of story. Tet is staying with Captain Moron."

Tettia blushed at her best friend's proclamation. "WHY?! We just met today, Tora! Shouldn't I stay with you?! I've known you longer!" exclaimed the half-Fanalis hysterically.

"You'll be staying in Captain Moron's room because I want to fucking cuddle with little Ja'far. _End of story_! Now, let's go to damn bed."

* * *

Tettia awkwardly laid in the bed, facing the young Sinbad. Her face was scarlet as her eyes stared at the back of Sinbad's head. "I can't fucking believe Tora _sent us back in time_! Sinny's _sixteen_ years old… what the hell? I am three years older than him now… he's not older than me now… at least he's closer to my age. I have more of a chance with him now…" the half-Fanalis mumbled almost silently.

Shifting in his sleep, Sinbad flipped over on his left side, so that his front half faced the half-Fanalis. Tettia blushed even more as she took in his sleeping face. "How can he _still_ be so handsome…? Was he born this handsome or something…? I still can't believe a sixteen-year-old Sinny is just as attractive as his thirty-one-year-old counterpart. Fifteen years younger… and three years after our _marriage_ prank, this idiot womanizer still makes my heart bound… almost as much as Ali did…" she mumbled to herself, reaching out with her left hand to touch Sinbad's face.

Laughing silently to herself, Tettia spoke once again, "… I shouldn't be embarrassed to lay in bed with Sinny… it's not my first time, retrospectively… but it's my first time with a Sinny that doesn't know me well…"

The warmth of an unknown hand on his cheek stirred Sinbad from his sleep. Sleepily opening his eyes, he was met with teary crimson orbs. Furrowing his brows in confusion, he asked in a groggy voice, "Tet…? Are you okay…?"

Upon hearing his voice, Tettia jerked her hand away from his cheek, placing it close to her chest. "I-I'm sorry… did I wake you up, Sinbad?" she asked quietly, a hint of underlying embarrassment in her tone.

"It was the warmth of your hand on my cheek that woke me up," he said, smiling sweetly at her.

She frowned, damn her urge to touch Sinbad's face. "I apologize, Sinbad," she muttered.

Placing his right hand on top of her left hand, the moonlight shone through the window and highlighted the young woman's crimson eyes. Sinbad noticed and appreciated the moonlight. "It's perfectly okay, Tet. Now… care to tell me why I woke up to your beautiful eyes bearing tears?" he asked, his voice still quite groggy.

Blushing as he practically held her hand, Tettia looked away from him and mumbled, "…it was nothing… I was just thinking about somebody I used to know…"

"And that made you upset? Why would it make you upset, Tet?" he questioned.

Shaking her head, Tettia replied, "It does not really make me upset… it just has me missing him. He's very similar to you, Sinbad. Very handsome like yourself, he even helped me with a prank a while ago."

Sinbad looked at the red-head, smiled sweetly and pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her waist (basically hugging her while laying down). "I'm sure he misses you, too, Tet. You're a very lovely young women and I'm sure he misses you just the same," he tried to comfort her.

Tettia wrapped her arms his shoulders, essentially hugging him back. "That's exactly what he would say," she exclaimed and buried her head into his chest.

Smiling down at her, Sinbad began to stroke/play with her hair. "Is it now? Well, then I guess I really am like him, huh?" he asked, still stroking her red hair. Sinbad noticed Tettia's pleasurable little sigh when he started playing with her semi-wavy hair; he smiled to himself and whispered, "So you like it when your hair's played with, yes?"

The half-Fanalis squeaked quietly as a response. _HOW DID HE —?! WHY DID HE START PLAYING WITH MY HAIR?!_ mentally screamed a hysteric Tettia, embarrassed her weakness was found out so easily. "A-aye…" she whispered back.

"You're so cute, Tet. Remind me to do this more often… and to have you share a bed with me so I can do this more," he chuckled.

Tettia blushed more and nuzzled her face against his chest. "Fuck you…" she muttered.

"I might do that with you later," he retorted, a smirk on his lips.

Looking up, her crimson eyes were wide and her face was a tomato. "D-don't joke like that, Sinbad!"

"Who said I was joking?" he answered.

"At least get to know me better!" whisper-yelled Tettia.

Smiling, Sinbad agreed, "Fine. I will."

 _Fuck me running…_ thought the half-Fanalis, succumbing to sleep induced by her hair being played with, finally.


	3. Early Morning

**Chapter Three: Early Morning Hours and Beyond**

* * *

Sinbad stayed up, just playing with Tettia's hair after she had woken him up several hours ago. For some reason, he could not go to sleep after that, therefore he continued to play with her hair — it seemed to help her sleep. "I wonder who this mystery guy of yours is, Tet?" he asked quietly.

As the young man continued to play with her hair, Tettia nuzzled her face into his chest, mumbling sleepily and drawn out, " _Sinny_ ~"

Hearing that, he looked down at the half-blooded Fanalis with a confused and curious look. **_Sinny_** _? Is she dreaming of me?_ he thought to himself. The young Sinbad continued to play with Tettia's semi-wavy hair.

Some time after that sleep-talk moment, Tettia was stirred from her sleep. "Well… that was short lived," she mumbled with a yawn.

"Well, good morning, Tet. Sleep well?" asked the young man.

A jolt was sent down the woman's spine at the voice; maybe it was not the one she was expecting. Jerking her head up to look at the young man, her heavily sleepy crimson eyes widened with confusion. "Sinny? Why do you look so young? Also, where are we?" she whispered in an heavily sleepy voice.

Her sudden and unbelievable response cause Sinbad stopped playing with her hair, almost immediately. "What do you mean _why do I look so young_ , Tet? I'm only sixteen; as for where we are, we're in the Sasan Kingdom," he replied, looking at her worriedly.

The more she _woke_ up fully, the more she remembered what happened. _Right… Tora sent us back in time…_ she reminded herself. "I-I'm sorry… you just looked older in my dream, and I guess I believed it was reality for a moment there," she tried to cover up.

Sinbad chuckled softly and resumed playing with her hair. "So you _were_ dreaming of me, huh? Was it a _good_ dream?" he asked.

"Wh-wha…?! I-…" she stumbled over her own words. Unable to refute his claim, Tettia sighed and said, "Yeah… I was dreaming of you and yes, it was a good dream. Some of my friends were there too, including an idiot blond who I took a liking to… before he died a few months back…"

"Oh… I'm… sorry to hear that. If you don't mind me asking, how did he die?" asked Sinbad, now stroking her hair comfortingly.

Tettia smiled sadly and sat up. "He died in a fight with another one of our friends during a civil war that broke out. Unfortunately, that friend had fallen into depravity and was being controlled by his need for revenge," she spoke sadly. "Then my friend who is like you had something happen to him… and we don't know if he's alive… or dead."

Sinbad sat up beside her, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "That's terrible, I'm sorry about that, Tet. I-… I'm here for you, should you need some comfort; because I'm sure Tora is not the best at comforting," he said.

Leaning her head on his shoulder, Tettia smiled softly. "Thanks, Sin. Also, she's _okay_ at comforting. She knows how close the blond was with me… that's why we met up with you, Jaffy and Hinahoho today. Tor was trying to cheer me up, because it's been _months_ , yet I was still upset about blondie's death…" she laughed softly.

"Well, maybe I can make you feel better? I'm not sure I can replace him in your life, but I am sure he wouldn't want you to torture yourself by not moving forward, right?" he asked with a sly little smirk.

Looking over at him, Tettia rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, of course _you_ can make me feel better. How do you suppose you do that? Force yourself onto me or something?"

Chuckling lowly, he retorted, "I don't think I'd be forcing myself onto you, there, Tet. I'm sure you'd be asking me to."

"Oh, you're pretty cocky, _little boy_ ," said Tettia with a small smirk of her own.

"I'm not a little boy, I'm three years younger than you."

Tettia laughed and poked Sinbad's face, "Yeah, so what? You're three years younger than me, that's premise enough to call you a _little boy_ , in my books."

Sinbad looked at her as she poked his face. "One day, possibly soon, I will prove I'm not a _little boy_ to you, Tettia," he said with a smirk.

"Oh my god, Sinbad! You have _a long_ way to go before you can even _think_ about proving to me that you're not a _little boy_ ," she exclaimed quietly, shoving his shoulder, smiling widely.

Smirking deviously, Sinbad retorted, "Oh really? How long of a way do I have to go, Tet?"

Rolling her eyes, Tettia replied, "Far too long a way, you twit."

"I am not a twit," he said.

Snickering, the red-head replied, "Oh yes you are. A sometimes mature, flirtatious twit."

"Like you don't like me being flirtatious," snickered the young Sinbad.

"Ha ha. _Of course_ I do. I _love_ you being flirtatious," said a painfully obvious sarcastic half-Fanalis.

Sinbad ruffled her hair, "I hear that sarcasm, Tet."

A sharp cheek pinching came as a result, "Good for you, Sin. You hear the sarcasm. Now, what are you gonna do about it?"

"I-…I don't knooooowww! B-but let my cheek go! Owww!" exclaimed the young man.

Tettia laughed and released his cheek, then said, "Very well, I shall release you."

Rubbing his cheek, Sinbad muttered, "That hurt ya know… ow… what'd I do to deserve that?"

"Everything," came Tettia's crisp reply as she laid back down on the bed.

Sinbad laid down beside her, laying on his left side and propping his head up with his left hand. He looked at her as she stared at the ceiling. "Why are you looking at the ceiling? I'm right here," he said with a grin.

The young man's little quip had the young woman snickering to herself. "I'm looking at the ceiling because I don't much feel like looking at you," she said wittily.

Chuckling and rolling his eyes, Sinbad replied, "We both know that's crap."

"How do you know if what I say is bullshit or not, hmm?" asked Tettia, turning to look at him.

"Got you to look at me, didn't I?" asked a chuckling Sinbad.

Groaning, Tettia replied, "God! You're just like Tora! She does the same shit to me all the time! Ugh — well played Sinbad… well played."

Smiling an easy smile, Sinbad patted the area closer to him. "Why you so far away? Come closer, you heathen," he said with a low laugh.

Scooting closer on the bed, Tettia laughed, "You're a heathen, too, ya know. We're all heathens as far as this kingdom is concerned."

"Ah, you make a good point. Now come here," he said, pulling her even closer to him.

Tettia squeaked at his action. "Wh-what in the hell are you doing?!" she squeaked.

"Pulling you close to me so I can keep you warm, but of course," said a smiling Sinbad. "Now, we really probably be getting to sleep: both of us. Tomorrow will likely be a busy day."

Blushing but nodding, Tettia replied, "Aye… you have a point. Good night, Sinbad."

"And a good night to you as well, Tet," spoke Sinbad, smiling down at her. After that, the two quickly fell asleep.

* * *

Later that morning, once the sun had risen, Sinbad and his band of merry comrades set out. Ja'far was being hugged on by Tora. "You're a great snuggle-buddy, Ja'far~" gushed the purplenette.

The young white-haired boy blushed and asked, "Can you get off of me, Tora?"

"Nah~!" she said. Tora then noticed that Sinbad was making quips at Tettia, which had the red-head laughing quietly: the two looked closer than they were before. "You two look closer than you were yesterday. What happened during the night?!" she exclaimed, almost attacking her friend with a hug of sorts.

Tettia blushed as her best friend directed her gaze towards the two of them. "Nothing happened last night, Tor. Well… I mean, something did but…"

Ja'far looked at Sinbad with horror and anger-filled wide eyes. "What did you do to her, Sin?! You haven't known her but almost a day!" he yelled angrily, ready to hurt the sixteen-year-old.

Throwing his hands up in defense, Sinbad defended himself, "We did _nothing_ like what you're both thinking, Tora and Ja'far. I swear! Also, do you really think Tet would let me touch her with how little we know each other? The closest I could get is a hug, maybe a cuddle."

"Well, we did cuddle with each other last night… and you played with my hair. Anyways, we talked most of the night, that's what happened. That's _all_ that happened," Tettia said with a snicker.

Tora looked at Tettia and Sinbad with crossed arms — she was scrutinizing each of their faces for traces of lying. Unable to find any, the purplenette sighed heavily, she had to accept what they said. "Very well, I trust you both. But if I find out you two did anything else besides what you said and lied to me about it: I will hurt you," she said, pointing to Sinbad.

"Thanks for believing us, Tor! I can assure you that we didn't do anything _inappropriate_ like Jaffy thinks," Tettia said, ruffling the young white-haired boy's hair. "I still adore ya, Jaffy!"

He swatted at her hands. "DON'T RUFFLE MY HAIR! I can think what I want!" he exclaimed angrily.

"Oh, you're a little spitfire… _totally unlike the twenty-seven year old I know…_ " Tettia muttered almost silently.

Tora heard what she said and nudged her shoulder, "I know right?! Isn't he?!"

The two best friends laughed to themselves, both reminiscing about the twenty-seven year old Ja'far they left behind. "I miss that old killjoy…" Tettia said almost sadly.

"You talking about that blond?" pipped in Sinbad, slipping into the conversation by wrapping an arm around each young lady.

Tora looked at Sinbad, looking surprised that he even knew about the _blond._ "Tet, did you tell him?" she whispered to Tettia.

Promptly, the best friend whispered back, "I did… early this morning. I had a dream about everyone we left behind and I woke up asking why he looked so young and where were we. I…" she took in a deep breath, and let it out shakily, "… I thought he was Ali when I was asleep… I was surprised when I woke up and heard his voice."

Looking sadly at her best friend, Tora placed her right hand on Tettia's left shoulder. "I'm… sorry, Tet. I hope you'll get happier now that we're here…" she whispered. "You never told him Blondie's name, did you?" she asked in her normal voice.

Shaking herself out of her sadness, Tettia smiled. "Oh, you're right! I never did! Haha! He was named Ali," she said.

"Oh, well, I'm sure Ali would want you to move on, right?" asked a smirking Sinbad.

Tora's eyes widened. "Oh shit! Ya know… I think Capt'n Moron here might actually have a good point! Babwa wouldn't want you to mope around since he's not with us anymore: Tet, he loved you and would _definitely_ want you to move on! Therefore, you gotta do it! For Babwa!" she exclaimed happily, seemingly encouraging her best friend and Sinbad. For whatever they may be in the future.

Ja'far cleared his throat, him and Hinahoho having been momentarily discarded, "Excuse me, Sin, are you going to see that apprentice Knight from last night?"

Looking up, Sinbad chuckled before Tettia butted in, with a huge smile, "Yeah! Fucking course this twit is! As the son of the Knight King, that cutie gives us _great_ contact! It would be stupid to let this opportunity get away from us! After all, we are the fledgling Sindria Trading Company, aye? Gotta expand our trading territory."

Sinbad ruffled her crimson hair, smiling at her. "Yeah! I love the way you think, Tet," he said.

Tora nudged Sinbad in the stomach, "I'm sure that's not all you're gonna fucking love, right boy?"

"Weren't you just the one saying you'd hurt me if I did anything with her?" asked Sinbad curiously.

The purplenette shook her head. "No, no, no… honey… I said I would hurt you if you lied to me about doing something. I don't deal with liars… and also, that was before you made a damn good point. Babwa _would_ want her to move the fuck on! Now, I never was against you two, believe me, I've been rooting for SinTia since for—yesterday."

"Oh really? Have you now?" asked Sinbad.

Tora nodded, smiling widely. "Oh yeah, you have no idea," she said almost mysteriously.

Tettia rolled her eyes. "I am right here!"

"Yeah? And? Wanna fucking prize?" retorted a sassy purplenette.

Ja'far sighed, "For a while, I wondered what would become of us, but… you, Sin, really have the devil's luck."

"Quit flattering me," replied Sinbad.

Tettia laughed, "I don't think that was meant to be flattering… in fact, pretty sure that might have been an insult."

Suddenly, a young-looking blond appeared, his long flowing hair tied in a long braid. "Yo, Sinbad… I'd say _'Long time no see'_ , but it's really only been about two years…" said the mysterious blond.

Sinbad twirled around to look at the blond. "You're… Yunan! Long time no see! You haven't changed at all," exclaimed the young man with a wave.

Yunan laughed, "Really? You got old, huh?"

"I'm not old! I just grew up and got bigger. I've become a handsome man, right?!" exclaimed the purple-haired sixteen-year-old.

Tettia and Tora snickered to themselves. "Oh, Tet, wanna argue if he's gotten bigger or not?" snickered Tora. Tettia shoved Tora's shoulder, snickering, "You're fucking impossible! I won't lie and say he's not handsome, though."

"Hmm?" hummed the blond in curiosity.

It was then that Ja'far asked, "Um… Sin, who's this?"

"He's a traveler that led me to Baal's Dungeon two years ago. Although, I don't really know who he is."

Ja'far almost blew a gasket. "You don't know?!"

Yunan smiled, "Eh? How cruel, Sinbad. Even though I've always been keeping an eye on you… you got your hands on a second Djinn, didn't you, Sinbad?"

Tora and Tettia smirked to each other. Tora whispering, "It's been a while since we've seen Yun-Yun, hasn't it?"

"Aye, maybe a year or so?" answered Tettia.

Sinbad looked at Yunan as he said, "… you even know that, huh? You're a mysterious guy as always… why are you here?"

The enigmatic blond smiled softly at Sinbad, and looked at Tora and Tettia almost knowingly. As if he knew they did not belong in this timeline, but did not say a word about it. Kids will always be kids, will they not? Instead, he addressed a different reason, "I think you may already know…? Recently dungeons have been appearing all over the world."

"Yeah. Ever since I captures Baal's Dungeon, it seems that they've been spotted in various places," said the young future king of Sindria. "Only the conflicts surrounding their capturing, like in Reim and Parthevia, have decreased. Dungeons have become tourist attractions and cities are flourishing around them. I heard that, after reading the adventures of my adventures—"

"You've heard that ordinary people stopped recklessly entering those damn dangerous dungeons? Wonder why that is?" finished Tettia, with a smile.

Once again, Sinbad ruffled her hair, "I think that with how much you can read my mind, we don't have _that_ long a way to go before I prove to you I'm not a _little boy_ ," he said with a smirk.

Tettia pinched his cheek. "Down horn-dog, you still have a while to go. Just because I can finish your thoughts does not mean shit, got it?"

"Ow, ow, ow! Yes ma'am! Let go of my cheek," he whined.

She let go of his cheek, smiling triumphantly. "Thank you, don't worry though, _little boy_ , you'll get there sooner than you think. Maybe within a few months?"

Yunan the Enigma laughed, which called everyone's attention back to him. Once all eyes were on him once again, he began, "I see… if you haven't realized it yet, I'll tell you all. Royalty and powerful people from every nation… are starting to challenge the dungeons and claim the power of the Djinn. The Reim Empire, a major power. The Kou Empire, a new power built from the unity of three countries. Small countries like Artemyra and Heliohapt… and… even here, in the Sasan Kingdom. You're no longer the only conqueror with the power of a Djinn. Sasan's Dungeon capturer is this country's most influential person, Knight King Darius Leoxses. What will you do? Can you face other Dungeon capturers?"

Sinbad smiled that signature easy smile of his as he replied calmly, "Yeah. I intend to."

Ja'far looked surprised, everyone else did not. Tora and Tettia even nodded, the former out of respect. "You have my blessing, Capt'n Moron," said the purplenette.

"…oh?"

Sinbad continued, "From the start, we sought an audience with the Knight King to negotiate trade with Sasan… the fact that the Knight King is a dungeon capturer doesn't change that. Rather, this just makes it even more enjoyable. We brought in two lovely women into our organization and now we get to deal with this, very enjoyable."

Yunan chuckled to himself. "… you're interesting as always. I'll be looking forward to seeing… the reaction of two dungeon capturers to one another… Sinbad. Also, goodbye Tora and Tettia…" he said as he disappeared.

"Oh shit, maybe he knows," gasped Tettia before laughing.

"So, we still gonna go to Mystras?" asked Tora. "Because, if we are, we should go."

The young killjoy was freaking out. "He… disappeared?! Sin! That person just now disappeared! SIN!?" he yelled out in shock.

"Calm down, Ja'far," said Hinahoho and Tora.

* * *

"We can't see Mystras?" asked a confused Sinbad and Tettia.

The soldier held up a hand, explaining, "No… ordinarily, we have no obligation to speak to outsiders like you, but the situation is urgent. Mystras has officially declared his withdrawal from the Knights."

"…then he's not here anymore?" asked Ja'far.

"No, I'm sure he's still here," retorted Tora.

The soldier nodded in affirmation. "Yes, it's like she said: he's still here. But it's only a matter of time, right?"

The other soldier continued, "You may not know as outsiders, but—"

Rolling her eyes, Tettia said, "But for you Sasan Knights — once baptized as a knight, you must devote every waking moment of your lives to Sasan. And no matter what, breaking that vow is unforgivable, which means for a knight to resign is basically signing his own death warrant. Contrary to that, there is only one way a Sasan Knight can resign and walk away with his life, and that is winning a fight… against senior Knights, correct?"

The soldiers were duly impressed. "Wow, as an outsider, you sure know how we work."

Shrugging, Tettia said, "Yeah, I knew from when I was a child. My second cousin came from this place and would sneak out to come visit the family in our hometown. Ya see, my dad was once a Knight from Sasan, but did the trail thingy and left as soon as he beat it. Glad he did, else I would never have been born. Oh, but this was years ago."

"I never knew you were half-Sasan, Tet!" exclaimed Tora.

Tettia looked at her, "Really? I NEVER told you that? You didn't even get it with Sparti would tell me stories about my cousin? How he died admirably in battle?" Tora laughed nervously, scratching her cheek embarrassedly. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Tettia said, "You were ten times beyond being hammered those times, weren't ya, Tor?"

The purplenette nodded, rubbing her neck. "Yyyyyeeeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhhh… I was beyond hammered those times. I never really payed attention to Spart's stories about… _anything_ , really…"

"Oh god… Sparti's gonna hate you forever now," retorted Tettia.

"You are not gonna tell him! Bitch if you haven't forgotten what I did, LOOK WHERE WE ARE!"

Tettia looked around. "Yeah? You're point?"

Tora pulled her to the side and said in a hushed whisper, "I sent us back in fucking _time_ , Tet. Spartos is probably still a child. A _young_ child at that."

"Ohhhhh… right…" she whispered back. The two pulled away from the whispering and Tettia said in her normal voice, "Guys, we gotta go see that Cutie fighting!"

"Let's do it!" exclaimed Sinbad. And that was exactly what the gang did, they went to see Mystras fighting to keep his life.


	4. Acquiring Trade

**Chapter Four: Acquiring Trade with the Sasan Kingdom**

 **A/N: Alrighty then! More of this! Here we goooooo~!**

* * *

"Looking hot there, Mystri!" Tora and Tettia exclaimed to themselves as Sinbad and their group entered the arena.

The referee of some-sorts said, "Apprentice Knight, Mystras Leoxses and current Knight King, Darius Leoxses."

Ja'far looked on and then said, "Sin, according to Tet and the gatekeepers, whomever is defeated will lose his head…"

Sinbad nodded and said, with his arms crossed, "I know. But, for now, let's just watch."

"A fair match as dictated by the doctrine… will now… BEGIN!" exclaimed the ref.

Mystras immediately lunged towards his father, yelling a battle cry. He thrusted his lance at the king, who skillfully deflected every one of his son's attacks. Onlookers were amazed at their speeds, "S-so fast?! He's not giving the Knight King any chance to attack… he's becoming even stronger than in his previous matches!"

The young scarlet haired Knight apprentice exclaimed at his father, "How about it, Father? Surprised?! In order to leave this country, I knew I'd have to fight you, so I've been training extensively. In order to defeat you!" Mystras kept thrusting his lance at his father and almost handed a hit. _I've had my father's spearman-ship drilled into me since I was a small child… I've studied your habits, your tactics, even your counter moves… I've polished my skills for today! That's why… I'll definitely win!_ thought the young knight as his attacks finally landed on his father.

"His attacks hit the Knight King!" exclaimed onlookers.

Darius recovered from the blow dealt by his son. "It seems you do have _some_ skill to brag about. However, I'll send your attack… straight back at you! Alloces!" he exclaimed, activating his Djinn, sending his son's attacks back at him. "I'll praise the fact that you trained yourself this well. Even as my son, you still managed to land a blow on me, the Knight King… but, no matter how well you planned, up against this power from the gods… it's pointless."

Onlookers continued. "Oh… that's the power of the gods that only the Knight King can use," said one of them. "There is the legendary tower that appears at times when the world is full of unusual phenomena… and the Knight King conquered it. That power returns any attack to the attacker. Is also protects him like an impenetrable barrier," said another. "There's no one but the Knight King that can wield such a power!"

Ja'far, Sinbad, Tettia and Tora looked over at the onlookers. Tettia and Tora looked at one another and laughed to themselves. "Just how wrong those two are is hilarious to me," snickered Tettia. Tora laughed as well, "Same, bitch, same! They are so fucking wrong!"

Tettia turned her gaze to Sinbad, who was looking at her and smiled a knowing smile. One that silently said, _I agree with you, Tet_.

Mystras was thrown into a wall and he looked at his father with unbelieving eyes. _My attack was turned against me… this is the power of the gods…? This is the first time… I've seen this legendary power… so why do I have this weird since of deja vu?_ he thought to himself. He got back up and continued to attack his father, who was blocking his attacks with his barrier. Finally, he threw his spear.

"Oh my word… he threw his spear?" asked both Tettia and Tora, looking confused as all hell.

It turned out that Mystras had thrown his spear as a decoy, so that he could get close to his father. "The spear was a decoy! My real aim… was this!" he exclaimed, throwing a punch at his old man, who blocked it with Alloces.

"…I told you it wouldn't work. All that power, I'll send back at you," Darius said as sent Mystras's force back at him. The force of which sent his son flying away from him, into a pillar. Everyone watch on as Darius walked towards his son. Tettia stared with wide eyes, which were wide with horror and disbelief; Sinbad looked on with an serious expression; Ja'far looked on with his mouth slightly agape and worried eyes; Tora just glared at Darius. "…So this is it. Even as an apprentice and negligent knight… you can at least be a good offering to the gods," said the king as he raised his spear, ready to kill his own son. "Knight Mystras, I praise your brave efforts."

Sinbad smiled then called out, "Stop the match! Old man, you can't cheat in a sacred match."

Sighing out of relief Tettia said, "Finally! Someone pointed it out!"

"Who the hell are you two?!" exclaimed an angry onlooker. "You saw the match, didn't you? What the hell was cheating in that fair and square, one-on-one match?!" exclaimed another angry onlooker.

Darius turned and faced the young purple-haired man and his red-head accomplice. "This is a sacred fight, as dictated by Doctrine. There's no place for the trifling comments of outsiders here," he said sternly.

Looking at one another, both outspoken outsiders smiled. "Doctrine? You sure talk big for a guy that just won with a Djinn's power," said Tettia.

Sinbad smiled and continued for her, "You called it the power of the gods because you got it for conquering some legendary tower? It's often been called that. It really is a special power, but it's not a power that's just yours…"

That was when Sinbad activated his Djinn and Tettia pointed to him and continued, "This is the power of a Djinn given to a dungeon capturer. All dungeon capturers have it. And using _that_ kind of power to win against someone that's not a dungeon capturer… what's fair about that, hmm? We can't agree with it…"

Darius shot the two a harsh glare. "Just who are you two? Especially the one with the same power of the gods?" he asked.

Smirking victoriously, Tettia said, "I'm Tettia, but you can call me the bitch that just ruined your day."

Sinbad laughed at her response and he said, "As for me, I'm Sinbad. A merchant traveling the seas of the world. And, just like you, am a dungeon capturer. …Hey, old man… have a match with me. As you see, me and Tet have pretty loose tongues, but it wouldn't be fair to have a two-on-one fight, so just fight me instead; we might just thoughtlessly say all sorts of things… but if you win, you can deal with us as you want."

"…What are you trying to accomplish?" asked Darius.

Tettia smirked as wrapped her left arm around Mystras, saying, "So glad you asked. If Sin wins, we'll take this little cutie. And… we'll have Sasan trade with our company. Isn't that right, Sin?"

Sinbad nodded, smiling widely. He really loved how he and Tettia were always on the same page. "Exactly. Deal?" he said.

"A match with the Knight King?! What the hell are they saying… seize those ruffians!" yelled guards.

An onlooker sighed, "But that power just now was, without a doubt, the same power of the gods that the Knight King has…" More chimed in, "Wasn't it supposed to be a power that only could be wielded by the Knight King? The doctrine should always be right…"

Tora face-palmed as Ja'far said, "I see… that's what you had in mind, Sin. The people of this country think, as their doctrine says, that no one but their Knight King can use the power of a Djinn. But that's not how it really is. Like this, their uncertainty about the Knight King will lead them to doubting their doctrine, because the leader of Sasan, their Knight King, wanted to hide the truth of the dungeons from them. But, why did Tet join in too?"

"Because she's a fucking dumb bitch who likes to be a smart-ass," mumbled Tora as an answer.

Hinahoho added, "In other words… they're striking at the opponent's weak spot…"

"Yeah… pretty fucking much," said Tora, sighing heavily.

Tettia and Sinbad smirked, the latter spoke, "So, what'll you do? Will you accept my challenge?"

Darius glared at the duo hatefully. "You're both rude, shameless people… as a trader and a woman from the outside world, even more so. That person is an apprentice knight who has been defeated in a duel. Whatever is done with him is of trivial importance. However, I can't overlook something that had to do with national affairs. I accept your challenge, Sinbad."

Mystras held his arm and was being helped up by Tettia. "You can't, Sinbad! You… can't win against my father!"

"Mystri…" said Tettia. "Mystras," said Sinbad as he looked at the scarlet-haired boy.

He continued, "Against that power, no matter how you attack, you cannot hit him. Father is protected on all sides by an iron barrier. On tope of that, no matter how strong your attack is, it strengthens it and sends it back. If you attack carelessly, we'll all be in danger! Because I just fought him… I know!"

Sinbad hummed and said, "…hmm… is that so?"

"Sinbad?!" exclaimed a serious Mystras. Tettia laughed at his seriousness.

Ja'far and Tora sighed, saying, "Stopping him is impossible." Tora went on to add, "He's as fucking stubborn as a damn mule."

Mystras turned to face them, having been done with Tettia's help. "But, like this he'll!"

Tettia laughed, "You're adorable when you're worried, Mystri!"

Once again, the young white-haired boy and the older purplenette sighed, "You're worried, right? So are we."

Hinahoho replied, "Sin is purposefully behaving like that to stir things up. Let's believe in him. Let's believe in our master."

Tettia burst out laughing, "Master!? HAHAHAHA!" Tora also laughed, but she could not really say anything, as Sinbad was technically her master — albeit in her and Tettia's present.

Sinbad started the battle, sending a great attack at the Knight King. They continued fighting and Darius was unexpectedly impressed. "Being at the same level with this much power… that's unexpected. But, I think your power's great, or it would be, if it was actually perfected," said the condescending king.

His comment had Sinbad scoffing. " _Same level_? I'll show you the _true_ power of a Djinn," he said as he used his Djinn Equip. "Spirit of wrath and heroes… dwell in my body… transform me into a great magician… full-body equip." His body was changed, his hair was blue and his body was covered in blue scales. Tettia fell over, unable to deal with his handsomeness. "If you wrap your body in the power of the Djinn, it transforms you into a great magician. This _Djinn Equip_ is the manifestation of a Djinn's true power. I wonder how long you can endure it?" he said, pointing is sword at the Knight King. Sinbad called down a beam of lightning and everyone was shocked. The now blue-haired Sinbad sent the Knight King into the air, flying with him.

Darius was shocked. "L-let me down!"

"Are you sure? Even if I let you go…" Sinbad said and let the Knight King go over a mountain. "Just as expected. It stopped my lighting attack, and withstood being dropped from such a height… your metal vessel's power is pretty good."

* * *

"What the fuck?! Tet, come back!" Tora said, slapping her best friend's face, trying to bring her back to the real world.

Tettia was moaning as she was slapped. "Nooo~ he was so attractive~" she moaned.

Rolling her eyes, Tora started to shake Tettia. "I. don't. give. a. fuck! Get over it!"

"Does he know me well enough yet~? I want ittttt~"

"No, he does not know you well yet, but I mean, go for it if you want to," replied Tora.

Tettia groaned, "But I told him to get to know me better~!"

Shrugging, Tora answered, dropping her and letting her head hit the ground, "Then you're fucked, bitch. Tell him you've changed your motherfucking mind. You apparently need the fuck!"

"Nooooooooo~" whined the half-Fanalis. Ja'far, Mystras and Hinahoho just looked at the two best friends with mouths slightly agape.

* * *

Sinbad and Darius came back thirty minutes later and everyone was asking how the battle went. Tettia had since came back and was sitting around, waiting. "…this match according to our mutual consultation, ends in a draw. We crossed swords, and I believe, without a doubt, he has conquered one of the legendary towers and obtained the use of the power of god. As possessors of the same power, we came to the conclusion that any further fighting was useless, so we decided to call it a draw."

Everyone was thrown into confusion and someone asked Darius something. "I believed that, just like you. However, according to Sasan's legends, that tower appears when there are unusual phenomena… currently, the world is full of unusual phenomena and disorder that it wouldn't be strange if other towers had appeared. Sinbad has also become a disciple of Sasan, which is a country chosen by god, for the world crisis, he's an ally who wields the same power I do! I want to welcome him into Sasan; as a disciple chosen by god!"

All of the Sasan people questioned their king. Ja'far gasped, "Ah, geez! SIN! What did you do to get things to turn out like this?!"

The knights made sure the people agreed with their king. Sinbad said to Darius, "Knight King… I apologize for me and Tet's threatening behavior… however, this alliance is something that's very important to me."

* * *

Tettia attacked Sinbad with a hug after what happened as they all waited for Mystras. "Way to go, Sin!" she exclaimed.

Falling backwards due to the force, Sinbad somehow regained his balance. "Why thank you, Tet. Also, I saw the way you reacted to my Full-body Djinn Equip," he said with a wink.

Tora laughed. "Glad you saw it too, Captain Moron!"

Sinbad chuckled, "Oh yeah, I saw it."

"I hate you both…" muttered Tettia.

"No you don't!" exclaimed Sinbad, kissing her forehead and ruffled her hair.

She blushed intensely. "F-fuck you!"

Combing his fingers through Tettia's semi-wavy hair, Sinbad winked down at her. "Oh, I'll definitely be doing that at some point… but with you," he retorted.

"Maybe you'll get that with Tet _real_ soon, Captain Moron!" quipped Tora, smiling deviously at her best friend.

The half-Fanalis's blush worsened. "NO! Not _real_ soon! Tor, shut the _fuck_ up," she yelled in response.

Smirking devilishly, Tora replied, "If that's not the case, then why aren't you trying to push Captain Moron away, eh? His other hand is on your waist, keeping you close to him."

Noticing that what the purplenette said was true, the half-Fanalis still did nothing to get Sinbad away from her. Tettia stood there, her face turning impossibly redder. _Shit! Tor's right! I can't push him away though_ , she thought to herself. "S-shut you, y-you bitch," she stuttered out, not wanting to agree with her accusation.

"Oh, so because you aren't denying Tora's claim, you're admitting that she's right, right?" asked Sinbad, pulling her impossibly closer to him.

Tettia was about to say something when Mystras exclaimed, running up to the group, "Sinbad, Tet, thanks for waiting!"

Still being held close to the group's _master_ , Tettia said, her face still bright red, "Have you said your goodbyes, Mystri?"

Mystras looked at her, saw her position, then furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Why are you so close to Sinbad?"

"Tet just can't get enough of me," Sinbad said, smirking deviously at Mystras.

The scarlet-haired knight's eyes widened as he understood the nature of the adventurer's smirk. " _Ooh!_ She can't, can she?" he asked, smirking deviously back. "Anyways, yes. I said my goodbyes and was also given a mission by the knights. Yeah, it seems like Sasan Knight can get permission to leave the country if they have a special mission," he said.

Sinbad spoke, still having Tettia close to him and his hand around her waist. "I guess the Knight King's the type of guy that can arrange to send his son away, huh?" he asked, leaning his head on Tettia's.

Tora snickered, she was loving this. The purplenette had not seen Tettia blush as much as she was since that one time she, herself, pushed the red-head into Sinbad; which caused them to kiss. "Welp! How does it feel, Mystras? Being able to finally fucking get outta here?" she asked, turing her attention towards the scarlet-haired knight.

"Honestly, it's like a dream," he replied.

The purple-haired captain smiled as he said to Mystras, wrapping his right arm around the knight's shoulder (he still refused to let go of Tettia's waist, so she was dragged with him squeaking a weak complaint), "Oh? I understand how happy you must be to leave, but I'll be puttin' you to work."

"Work?" questioned the knight, who then laughed at Tettia's adorable response to being dragged around.

Sinbad nodded and said, "As part of my alliance with Sasan, we formed a trade agreement. You're gonna be in charge of all contact with Sasan."

"Ah! That's how it was? Can I really do that sort of work?! If I cause you and trouble, my fathers and all the knights will be angry with me," yelled Mystras. Everyone laughed at his reaction.

"Brother! Please wait!" called a little child. The child was running towards Mystras.

Mystras turned around and looked at the child. "Spartos?" he questioned.

Tettia choked on her own spit. "S-spartos?!" she exclaimed.

"Why are you leaving without telling me?! You are _so mean_!" yelled the young Spartos, punching his brother in the gut. "I heard from Father. He said that you were promoted from an apprentice to a regular knight and that you were leaving on a mission. You never taught me anything. Am I really just a nuisance?!"

Tettia wanted to hug the young Spartos. Mystras promised that they would meet again someday and then they left. "C-can you let me go, now?" she asked.

"Nope~!" he quickly replied.

Tora laughed even more. "Why is this funny to me?! Are we almost to the sea?"

Sinbad nodded, "Yeah, we're almost there. After we get back on the ship, we're heading for the City of the Sky: the Artemyra Kingdom! I wonder what kind of place a country full of girls is…"

At that statement, Tettia elbowed Sinbad as hard she could in his gut, which made him release her. Tettia's crimson eyes practically glowed dangerously. "That statement is _exactly_ why you have a long way to go before you get to do _anything_ to or with me!" she hissed.

Tora shook her head in disappointment. "Goddammit Captain Moron… you almost had her!" she exclaimed. Tora grabbed Sinbad by his ponytail and led him off somewhere to talk to him in private. Once they were far enough away, the purplenette threw him into the nearest rock. "THE FUCK WAS THAT?! I was _trying_ to help you _get some_ , you fucking idiot! It was working, too! Tet was probably gonna let you _do something_ with her! Had you not said what you said! Why in the fucking hell would you say something like that when you were so close to having her where you wanted her to be?!" yelled a seething Tora.

Sinbad rubbed his head and said, looking up at her from the ground, "What?! Tet knows I'm flirtatious, she's even called me a _flirtatious twit_. I thought she would be fine with it."

Tora resisted the urge to throttle the young idiot. "You _fucking dumbass_! Just because she knows you're one, doesn't mean she wants to hear what you said! IT'S OBVIOUS THAT SHE HAS A THING FOR YOU! And you, obviously, have a thing for her, too… despite only knowing her for about two damn days!"

Blushing slightly at her true statement, he said, "Well…"

" _Well_ , nothing, bitch! If you want Tet to like you more, you gotta stop doing that as much, it's gonna make her think you don't want her. When, _clearly_ , you both want each other," sighed Tora.

"I guess I can try…"

"And try you will. Now let's go back," she said, pulling him back with her. "WE'RE BACK! Sorry! I had to talk to Captain Moron! Now, let's get onto the boat," she exclaimed. When the two purple-haired individuals walked up, Tettia was smiling and laughing with Mystras. Tora saw this and smirked, "Ah, I see you and Mystri are talking quite friendly, aren't'cha, Tet?"

Tettia looked at Tora. "Yeah! Mystri asked me about my life, so I'm telling him about my life," she said, nudging Mystras with a huge grin.

Mystras laughed and pat her shoulder, "Yeah! I know a little bit more about her. You're pretty interesting, Tet, thanks for telling me about your life."

"You're welcome, Mystri~! Your face was so cute scrunched up in awe at my life!" she exclaimed, hugging the scarlet-haired knight in a side-hug.

The older purplenette crossed her arms and looked at Sinbad, who seemed slightly dejected at their sudden friendship. _Well, well, well… this is just like what she did with Alibaba, but this time with Sinbad and possibly unknowingly_ , she thought with an internal laugh. "Welp! Let's go!" she exclaimed, shoving Sinbad towards Tettia. "You better do your best to make it up to her," she whispered to him as she pushed him.

Tettia was not prepared for a wild Sinbad being shoved towards her. "Wha!?" she exclaimed as the two fell to the ground. Instinctively, Tettia caught herself before her head hit the ground by bracing herself with her arms. Sinbad also braced himself, so he would not head-butt the red-head woman, by placing his hands on the ground by her waist. Their captain was on his knees, in between Tettia's legs (mainly between her knees), it was quite the awkward moment. The duo just looked into each other's eyes; crimson eyes darted away from the piercing golden gaze of Sinbad after a few moments. Her face became bright red because their faces were once again very close together.

Clasping her hands over her mouth, attempting to mask her hysteric laughter, Tora exclaimed, "Not, at all, what I was fucking expecting but, all right! Go Captain Moron!"

Ja'far gasped horrifiedly and yelled, "SIN!? What has gotten into you?! Get off of her!"

Barely noticeable, Sinbad was also blushing. Tettia finally pushed him away from her, slightly, and stood up. "Okay then…" she muttered, "I think it's time we leave now."

Sinbad followed her in standing up. "Yeah! Let's go! To the next kingdom!" he exclaimed.

Tettia rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Yeah… the fucking mostly girl country. Let's see who you try to fuck now…"

Wrapping her arm around her best friend, Tora leaned her head onto Tettia's shoulder and whispered, "Oh, I'm sure he's still gonna try to fuck ya~"

" _Yeah_ … sure he will," she mumbled back, rolling her eyes once again. They all got onto the ship and set out on their new adventure.


	5. Under a Paper Moon

**Chapter Five: Me and You under the Moon**

 **A/N: Whoop whoop! HAD WAY TOO MUCH FUN WRITING THIS!**

* * *

It was late at night, around 11:30, and the moonbeams glistened off of the waves. Unable to sleep in Sinbad's quarters, Tettia had left and went to walk around on the deck. "God, it's been years since I've seen the beauty of the moon's light making the ocean look like thousands of gleaming crystals…" she muttered to herself, leaning on the banisters.

Tora, who was somehow manning the ship, heard her and said, "Yeah! It has been a while! A few years, right? Since you were seventeen or so, correct?"

"Yeah, when we were heading back home and had Ali, Laddin and Morg with us. Heh, I remember every time Ali would wake up, you'd knock him right back out; we had no need for sleeping herbs," Tettia laughed in response, then sighed and continued almost sadly, "…Fun times those were… I remember staying up late, just to look at the moon glittering off the ocean. Jaffy said I was being childish and I almost threw him overboard. A few times, actually."

Laughing at the memory, Tora replied, "Oh yeah! Remember that one night that I was with you, went starfish and fell off the boat?"

"Oh my god, yes, I do! I was worried sick about you! Only to have you come flopping onto the boat three days later, squeaking like a dolphin," laughed Tettia.

Tora scoffed, "You were just jealous of my awesome magic, bitch!"

Rolling her eyes, Tettia said sarcastically, "Totally!"

"Hey, be useful and man the helm! I'm fucking tired and am ready to sneak into little Killjoy's quarters to snuggle," exclaimed Tora, letting go of the wheel, walking away from it.

Tettia was quick to act. "TORA WAIT!" she yelled, jumping over every obstacle in her way and ascended the stairs leading to the wheel in break-neck speed. "Are you trying to kill us?!" she hissed.

"Are you trying to fucking wake everyone on the damn boat up?" quipped Tora.

"Fuck you, just go to bed," exclaimed Tettia.

Glaring at her best friend, Tora replied, descending to Ja'far's quarters. "I'm going, bitch, calm down!" On the way to Ja'far's room, Tora passed by a sleepy-looking, shirtless Sinbad. "What are you doing up?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"I'm looking for Tet… she wasn't in my bed when I woke up… so I got worried," he said in his groggy voice.

Tora hummed, an evil idea brewing in her head. "Why don't you go check Mystri's room? They seemed pretty close today when we got back from our chat. Maybe he got lucky and… hmm, I dunno… _got to do something with Tet_? She probably snuck out after you fell asleep to go to Mystras," she said, smiling darkly.

Sinbad took in a sharp breath. No way would Tettia sleep with Mystras, she obviously had a thing for him, right? "I don't believe she'd do that. She's got to be on deck somewhere," he retired unbelievingly.

"I don't think so. After all, I was manning the ship for quite awhile, and I heard some noises from below deck. I thought you would have heard them too," she said in a low tone.

The color in his face drained. "No way!" he exclaimed.

Tora enjoyed making him squirm; however, having had her fun in tormenting Sinbad, she sighed, " _Yeah_ , no, that didn't happen — at all; at least the noise part. I was just being a bitch; currently, she's manning the helm. Go up and talk to her, she was thinking about the past, when Babwa was alive, so she's probably kinda sad. Now, if you'll excuse me, Captain Moron, I have a little Killjoy to surprise."

Following her with his eyes as she left, Sinbad sighed out relieved, "That's not funny! I was actually worried about that!"

"Don't worry, dumbass, I'm sure she's not gonna do anything with Mystri. Just, woo her again, you seem to have a knack for that," she said, waving her hand dismissively in the air.

Sinbad rolled his eyes, grumbling as he made his way up to the deck. When his gaze fell upon Tettia, he saw her sighing dreamily, leaning against the wheel and looking up at the moon. "I miss you so much… Ali… I wish you were here, to see this gorgeous moonlight with me…" she sighed sadly out loud, not noticing Sinbad. Her utter sadness had Sinbad wanting to hug her tightly, in fact, he walked up the stairs and hugged her from behind. "AH!" she screamed. Looking over her shoulder, she saw it was Sinbad. "When did you get here? And where is your shirt?" she asked.

Sinbad placed his head in the juncture of her neck and right shoulder. "I clearly walked up the stairs to your right, you were just zoned out. You know I don't sleep in a shirt, be lucky I'm actually wearing pants. Anyways, what were you looking at?" he asked, hugging himself close to her without prying her away from the wheel.

She almost relaxed into the hug from behind. Her crimson eyes turned up towards the moon and she sighed dreamily once again, "Oh… I was just admiring the moon."

"I heard you say Ali's name…" he whispered into her ear.

A noticeable shiver shot down her spine. "Y-yeah… I did. I wish he were here with me… he was special to me…" she muttered.

The captain smiled as he noticed her shiver. "Well, now I can be special to you, right?" he asked, turning to look up at her, his warm breath hitting her neck.

Tettia shivered once again. "Not right now you aren't. I'm still mad at you!"

He frowned. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said earlier. Please forgive me," he said, trying to butter up to her.

"Yeah, yeah. Of course you're sorry. You're just saying that so you can bed me quicker," she said in a huff.

Sinbad hugged her tighter and spoke gently near her ear, "No, that's not why I'm apologizing. I truly am sorry that I upset you with what I said, I thought you knew I was being the twit that I am…"

"I still think you're only saying that to get me in your bed," she retorted with another huff.

Prying her away from the wheel, Sinbad spun the half-Fanalis around to face him. Using one hand to steer the ship, Sinbad used his free hand to lift her chin up, so that she was looking into his eyes. "Listen to me, Tet. I'm not lying to you and faking an apology just to get you into my bed. Though, I will not lie, that is the end goal, but right now my goal is to get to know you more. My goal is to get us to open up to one another, mainly you to me. Now, I won't lie and say I won't flirt with other girls, but know that you're special to me. I've only known you for about two days, but I feel like you're special," he said.

Tettia looked into his eyes and saw that he was not lying. "I-…" she could not think of something to say to the young Sinbad. "I-…" she sighed, "I believe you, Sinbad. I forgive you… you stupid dork. N-now can you let me man the ship? A-and go put on a shirt?!"

Sinbad moved the hand that held her chin to her waist, and smirked deviously. "No, I won't let you man the ship. I'm still sad that you left me alone in my room," he said, feigning slight sadness.

"I couldn't sleep because I was still pissed at what you said. I didn't want to be near you, so I left your room. So I—"

"Tora said that you went to Mystras's quarters, is that true?" he asked in a low tone.

Tilting her head in confusion, Tettia spoke, "Why would she—? Ahhh… yeah, I went to Mystri's room about an hour ago, just to talk. I wanted to finish what we started while you and Tor had a little chat."

Her response had Sinbad pulling her closer to himself as he almost growled in annoyance. "And what, _exactly_ , did you two start?" he asked.

Shrugging, Tettia replied, "Why do you wanna know? It's _just_ Mystri, and he is pretty cute. But, to answer your question, Captain… we just talked. I told him more about my life, about my mother and father. About my friends such as Ali and the best friend I saw as a brother, Laddin. Just that, nothing more."

"You sure?" he asked, looking piercingly into her crimson eyes.

She nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I promise. Don't worry about it. _Believe me_ … you're the only one I want to bed me," she whispered the last part.

Despite her whispering, Sinbad had heard what she said and that caused him to smirk widely. "Oh, I heard that, Tet," he said, taking his hand around her waist and moving it to cup her cheek. Sinbad could not use his other hand, as it was steering the ship.

Tettia's face exploded in a blush as Sinbad's hand caressed her cheek. "W-what are you doing? W-why are you getting closer?" she asked, noticing that Sinbad had gotten closer to her. When she noticed what exactly he was trying to do, she smiled deviously. "Oh! Do you want a kiss or something?" she asked.

"I'm good with a kiss on the cheek. That's what I was doing, goofball," he said.

The half-Fanalis still was smiling deviously. "You sure? Because I actually am tempted to give you an actual kiss," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Wait, really?" he asked curiously.

Tettia pulled herself closer to him, whispering in his ear, "Yes, really."

Sinbad seemed to grow happier at her statement. "You sure?"

"Do I look like I'm not sure," she said with a smirk.

"Well, that smirk begs to differ. You look like you're up to no good. So, what are you thinking in that devious mi—" he said but was cut off.

The half-Fanalis kissed the captain for a very brief moment on the lips, before smiling devilishly. "That's what my devious smile was for. I was gonna do it anyways. You thought I wasn't gonna do it, didn't ya?" she asked, before removing herself from being enclosed in his arms and the wheel.

Without skipping a beat, Sinbad quickly grabbed her waist and brought her back. "Excuse me, where do you think you're going, Tet? You aren't going anywhere," he said, pulling her impossibly closer to him.

Tettia pushed her palms against Sinbad's chest, trying to get away from him. "Well, I _was_ going to go back to your room to sleep, but I guess I won't be sleeping. Now will I?" she asked with a grin.

"Not with that puny little kiss you gave me you won't. Plus, you can't leaved you Captain like that," he spoke with a easy smile.

Rolling her eyes and laughing, Tettia cupped Sinbad's cheek and kissed him again, a tad bit longer than the kiss before. When she pulled away, she was still smiling. "Better, Captain?" she asked, a slight blush tinging her cheeks.

The two heard whistling and turned their heads towards the noise. Tora and the young Ja'far were standing in the middle of the deck, looking at them. The twenty-year-old purplenette had her hands on her hips with wide, shit-eating grin on her face; meanwhile, Ja'far's face was almost red with anger. "SIN?! TET?! What do you think you're doing?! You two haven't known each other more than a few days! Not long enough to be kissing!" he yelled furiously.

"Why are you here?! Shouldn't you _both_ be asleep?" asked a now tomato-faced Tettia.

Tora smirked devilishly and said, "Oh, where's that confident Tet that we just witnessed a few brief moments ago?"

"I won't lie, I liked the confident Tet. The confidence is attractive," spoke a smug-grinned Sinbad, his arm still tightly wrapped around her waist, also still manning the helm.

The half-Fanalis blushed and buried her face into his bare chest, mumbling, "Fuck all of you… only Sin was supposed to see that side of me…"

Smirking, Tora said, "Oh really… that a fucking side you only want Captain Moron to see or something?"

Tettia blushed and buried her face further into Sinbad's bare chest. She mumbled something incoherently and Sinbad smiled. "Of course it's only something for me too see, what do you think she would do? Let you see it on a daily basis?" their captain asked with a smirk.

" ** _WELL_** , considering **_I_** _am_ her best _fucking_ friend, yes, I would think she'd show me that side of her on a daily basis. How would I meddle with her love-life without knowing her capabilities, huh? God, Captain Moron, it's like you don't think that I fucking think about this stuff," huffed Tora, now crossing her arms.

"I don't need you meddling in my love-life, Tora! Just because your love-life is nonexistent at this point doesn't mean you get to meddle in mine," exclaimed Tettia.

Tora smiled evilly at her best friend. "Excuse me, what was that? You think that just because my husband isn't here that my love-life is nonexistent?"

Tettia mouthed to Tora, _Mas is a child in this time, REMEMBER?! Sparti was so small, therefore Masrur will be too!_

Sighing in understanding, Tora nodded. "Anyways, you two can leave, I just wanted to be a bitch and bring Ja'far up here to witness whatever went down between you two. I can man the helm again," she said, walking up to and shoving the duo away from the helm. Hysterically laughing as the two fell down, yet again.

"DAMMIT TORA!" exclaimed Tettia and she landed on top of Sinbad.

Sinbad smiled and stood up, bringing Tettia with him. She was koala-hugging his torso. "Oh, eager are we?" he asked with a smirk.

"Oh shut the fuck up and take us back to your quarters… _Captain_ ," she said with a huge grin.

He pat her head and began walking off towards his quarters. "Okay, okay, okay. I'm going my little first mate," he said, putting subtle emphasis on _mate_.

She blushed. "Just fucking go!"

Sinbad smiled and kissed her forehead. "I expect another kiss when we get back to my quarters," he whispered to her.

Ja'far fumed as they walked away. "What are they doing?! I don't trust them!" he hissed, steam almost visible from his head.

Tora laughed, "Calm down, Killjoy."

Ja'far looked back at the purplenette and stuttered, "Did you NOT just hear them?!"

"Yeah, I heard them. Personally, I don't care what they do. They both seem to have a thing for one another. What's the harm in letting them get it outta their systems? Tet needs this more than he does. Killjoy, if they do anything, just let it happen. Do you want Captain Moron to stop trying to fuck every girl he sees?" she asked, looking at the young killjoy with a smile.

The young boy sighed heavily, "Fine! You're lucky we all just want him to not try and woo every girl he sees."

"And the fact that you all want your Captain to be happy, right?" she asked with a grin.

He yawned and shrugged. "Yeah, sure. I guess that's a bonus. Anyways, I'm going back to sleep. Since you woke me up for no good reason," he said, walking away.

"Good night, you Killjoy," she said, waving happily to him.

"Night. Don't kill us, Tora," he said, retreating below deck.

Tora laughed, "I won't, my best friend might get laid, I can't kill her in good conscious."

* * *

"You have no idea how much I wanted that kiss," Tettia said, kissing Sinbad's nose cutely.

Sinbad smiled and then kissed Tettia on the lips for a few moments. "What had you wanting the kiss so bad?"

"The fact that you and Tora are right, Ali would want me to move on. And hey, now that we crossed the line of kissing, I may open up to you more," she said with a smirk, combing her fingers through his hair, which she had taken out of its ponytail.

Humming appreciatively, Sinbad pulled her closer to him. "I'd like that. I want to know about you, Tettia. Some time you really should tell me about your parents. You're Sasan blood and Fanalis blood. I am quite interested as how your parents met," he said, stroking her hair.

She smiled happily. "I will gladly tell you about my parents… _after_ we secure trade with the Artemyra Kingdom," she spoke.

"Then let's get some sleep so we can get it done quickly. I want to know about your life. More of your life than Mystras does."

"You're jealous of him knowing more, aren't'cha?" she asked. Sinbad said nothing, but looked at her. "You're a goofball, Sinbad," muttered Tettia before she nuzzled against Sinbad and went to sleep. Sinbad following after her not long after.


	6. Fecking Ravines

**Chapter Six: The Challenge of Traversing the Ravines to Artemyra**

* * *

"Hey! Dumbasses, wakey-wakey!" came Tora's voice followed by vigorous knocking on the door.

Tettia groaned as her eyes cracked open. The sight she was met with was an incredibly _naked_ Sinbad. Apparently during the night, her skirt had ridden up, she and Sinbad cuddled up to each other and thus their legs were entwined. Tettia could feel her whole body heat up as her legs brushed against the skin of Sinbad's bare thigh. "S-sinbad…?" she questioned sleepily.

Moaning sleepily, Sinbad slowly opened his eyes. He looked at Tettia with sleepy, gleam-less, just woken up eyes. "Well, good morning, Tet," he said, pulling her closer to him, his hand resting on the small of her back.

Squeaking quietly, Tettia looked up at him. "G-good morning, Sin…" she mumbled.

"HEY! ARE YOU DUMBASSES EVEN AWAKE?!" called Tora.

Sinbad smiled down at Tettia as he replied, "Well, kinda. Something is awake, but only Tet can handle it."

His exclamation had Tettia squealing, "SINBAD!"

He smiled at her before kissing her forehead, "Yes, Tet?"

"D-don't say stuff like that," Tettia exclaimed as she promptly slapped his chest, albeit weakly.

"Oh, but it's true. Only you can handle it~" he cooed.

Tora groaned loudly, "CAN YOU TWO JUST GET OUT OF BED?! GOD FUCK! We're almost there!"

"We are?" asked Tettia as she shot up from laying down.

"Yes! Now get the fuck out here!" yelled Tora. "AND PUT ON SOME CLOTHES THIS TIME CAPTAIN MORON!"

Tettia laughed as she got up from bed; pushing herself off of the bed, she walked towards the door. She did not care if she was leaving Sinbad in the bed, fully naked at that. Sinbad stumbled out of the bed and quickly started to get dressed. "Hey! Tet! Don't just leave me here!" he exclaimed, wriggling into his pants speedily, which almost had him falling over. She did not even pay him any attention as she opened the door and walked out of it, the door quietly clicked shut. Sinbad stood there, with his shirt half undone, looking at the door. "She left me…"

The sun's warm rays cascaded onto Tettia skin and she hummed contently at the immediate warmth. "It feels nice out today," she said, covering her eyes from the glorious, almost blinding sunlight.

Mystras laughed and placed a hand on her shoulder. "It sure does, doesn't it, Tet?" he asked with a goofy smile.

She nodded and smiled back at the scarlet-haired knight. "Mhmm!"

That was when Sinbad walked out of his room and saw Mystras's hand on Tettia's shoulder. The both of them smiling stupidly at one another. Instead of growing jealous, Sinbad walked up to them and wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders and laughed, "It is an amazing day today! Amazing enough to gain trade with another kingdom!"

The half-Fanalis laughed, as did the knight, "Yeah! Exactly!"

The all looked up at the cliffs on either side of their ship. The Artemyra Kingdom, this kingdom is located in the southeastern area of the continent, it is a small but influential nation state similar to Sasan. It is said that they broke away from the Dark Continent, making the world's largest ravine into their country, and living in the cliffs. However, as the people rarely enter or leave Artemyra, the actual conditions are still mostly unknown. That is because it lied within a ravine that rejected visitors. "AMAZING!" gasped Sinbad and Tettia as they looked up at the cliffs.

"According to these scrolls, it looks like there should be a break in the coast up ahead, and past that the only was to continue is on foot. We should make careful preparations…" said Ja'far.

Sinbad pointed at some amazing-looking plants as he exclaimed, "Hey, Tet, Mystras! Look at those plants!"

Tettia gasped as she looked at the plant. "God they're beautiful!"

"Sinbad! Tet! That bird is _huge._ AWESOME!"

The captain and the half-Fanalis looked up to the huge bird Mystras was pointing to. "Huh? Something about that bird… seems strange, doesn't it?"

A vein in Ja'far's head throbbed in annoyance; his grip on the map in his hands tightened. How dare they ignore him like that. Tora ruffled his hair, smiling down at him. "Calm down, Little Killjoy. Don't take it to heart, Captain Moron is just being himself and you know this," she advised.

"I suppose you have a point, Tora. WAIT! How do you seem to know Sin so well?" asked a now suspicious Ja'far.

"I dunno, I can grasp someone's personality relatively quickly. Don't look at me like I'm suspicious, Little Killjoy; despite you being an assassin, I can end up faster than you can blink," said Tora, rolling her eyes and shrugging.

That statement had Ja'far scoffing and rolling his eyes. "Yeah right, Tora. I have been trained in the ways of an assassin since I was a baby," he retorted.

Laughing, Tora replied, "Oh boo-who. At least you had parents, Killjoy. I grew up fending for _myself_ on the Dark Continent, without the help of any parents or adults. I was ALL by myself, Killjoy. I had to grow strong, both mentally and physically. I killed numerous animals for food with my bare hands!"

"Oh, really? Then, you might be able to end me faster than I ever could end you."

"Damn straight, Little Killjoy."

Tettia gasped loudly, "It looks like the bird is getting closer, little by little!" Sure enough, the bird was slowly lowering itself over the ship. "IT'S HUGE!"

Tora snickered as she replied to her best friend's statement, "Oh is it now?!"

"PISS OFF TOR! YOU KNEW I MEANT THE BIRD!"

"Oh, how rare. Some travelers from outside. YOOHOO! What? Are you coming to visit our country of Artemyra?" the younger-looking blonde asked.

"So there were people riding that bird!" said Sinbad.

Mystras blushed like an idiot as he said, "I heard that the people of Artemyra were good with animals, but they're also super beautiful!"

The blondes atop the bird smiled cutely down at the travelers. "There's a ravine up aheas with steep slopes. It'll be nothing but difficult mountain trails," the younger of the blondes said. "If you make it safely through the ravine and arrive in Artemyra, come have some fun with us." Mystras looked pumped as the flush never faded. The younger blonde continued, "But… if you can't manage this little ravine, then you'll be stiff, sore, and useless at night, won't you? Like before, it look all night and the men were so stiff and sore that they trembled like newborn fawns. There's nothing more pathetic. Kay ha ha ha! Men really aren't good for anything else, so they really need to give it their all." The knight's face promptly fell after that cruel statement. She paused and laughed cruelly, continuing, "So… we have high hopes for you. Do your best…"

Sinbad smiled and said, "Sure. I got it. I'm counting on you to take good care of me tonight, Tet."

Tettia smirked as she replied, "I can do that any time you want, I'll have you know."

The blondes then noticed the two other females. "We… umm, did not see you two lovely ladies. We can take you to Artemyra promptly. The trail is designed for males only," the younger said.

"You're fucking kidding me, right? You aren't just going to be rude to Sin, Jaffy, Hinahoho and Mystri then just offer us a ride to Artemyra? FUCK NO! Tora and I will stay with our captain and friends and go through the mountain pass. Like everyone else," retorted Tettia, crossing her arms and huffing.

Tora opened her mouth, wanting to say, _TAKE ME WITH YOU! I DON'T WANNA STAY WITH THESE IDIOTS!_ but ultimately voted against it and closed her mouth. "Yeah! It's as Tet says! We're staying with these dummies!"

"Very well," the older said as they turned the bird around and flew away.

The ship lowered its anchor and the crew got off. "We'll climb this ravine today!" exclaimed Mystras, running forward. "Let's go, Sinbad and Tet! To the captivating Eden!"

Sinbad and Tettia ran after him. "YEAH!" they called.

Ja'far looked highly annoyed, as did Tora. "If you run _that_ fast from the start…" the young killjoy began.

"This is a gotdamn ravine with extreme ups and downs! I won't be responsible for what happens to you fucking idiots!" yelled Tora.

Hinahoho looked on with a blank expression. "They're energetic, huh?"

"You have _no_ fucking idea, Hina," groaned Tora, looking back at him.

* * *

Sinbad had now fallen behind Tettia, Mystras, Ja'far and Tora. He was exhausted and was shaking as he held himself up with a stick. _Strange… why? Why do they… look fine…?_ he thought to himself.

"Sin, this way! Hurry up!" exclaimed Tettia, waving at Sinbad to hurry up.

"This way, this way!" exclaimed Mystras.

Tora and Ja'far huffed, "We told you so. You didn't pace yourself."

The reason they all looked so fine was simple. Ja'far was a former assassin; Mystras was raised in the mountains; Tettia was a half-Fanalis and was used to this grueling treks; Tora hailed from the Dark Continent as well and grew up in the mountains in the remote regions of the Continent. Sinbad stared at them all before he fell to the ground and started to fuss, "AH, NO MORE! Don't wanna. I'm tired! I can't take another step! Ja'far, let's take a break here."

"HUH?!" exclaimed the young Ja'far. Tora rubbed her temple as she shouted, "YOU FUCKING SAID WE WERE CLIMBING THIS TODAY, DIDN'T YOU?!"

Sinbad laid on the ground, pouting as he said, "It must be nice… being young…"

"You're young, too, ya dork," exclaimed Tettia, smiling goofily.

Crawling over to Hinahoho, Sinbad spoke, "Hinahoho! I'm tired, so carry me, please? To you, even two of me would be light.

Much to the young captain's dismay, Hinahoho was also having a hard time: because of the climate. However, despite this, he stumbled forward, saying, "…It's hot… humid… I can't take it… I'm… from a Northern Country… Artemyra's… climate is tough… but… for my wife and child… I'll endure it…"

"Okay then, big guy, let's go!" Tora said, all of them turning and walking away from Sinbad. Sinbad was shocked that everyone, including his possible girlfriend Tettia, had left him behind. Ja'far had used one of his wires to impale a nearby rock-face. "From here on, we'll be climbing the cliff walls. I'll lead the way, so be careful," instructed Ja'far.

"Okay," Mystras said. "Hey…" he started.

"Jaffy? Is that really okay? Treating Sin that way? He is from Parthevia, it's pretty flat there as well. You know he isn't used to mountains," said Tettia, pouting at the little shit.

The young assassin sighed, "He's fine. That guy just wants to take it easy. He's really a person who can do anything he puts his mind to, so he's doing it on purpose. That's why I won't cater to him, anyway, he'll be over here in a minute."

His reply had both Tora and Tettia smiling shit-eating grins as they said, "You have a lot of faith in him, don't'cha?"

Ja'far grew flustered, "I-it's not like that! It's just from my experiences following him."

" _Sure_ , whatever you say, Killjoy," hummed Tora.

Sure enough, Sinbad came up over the hill, clutching his sword. "…Hehe. I just realized something…" he said. Something was _off._ His hair was blue and not its usual purple color. It dawned on everyone. "If I do Djinn Equip, I can fly. Like this, I can pass through the ravine just like those girls riding that bird. That's how it is, so see ya."

Tettia looked at Ja'far, who was readying his wire. "I got this, Jaffy," she stopped him. Turning to look at Tora, she simply said, "Throw me." Tora did not need to be told twice, cracking her knuckles, the purplenette picked up her best friend and threw her at Sinbad. "If I have to walk, so do you!" she exclaimed as she tackled Sinbad — they both fell to the ground hard.

"Why would you do something so cruel, Tet?! That hurt!" exclaimed the still blue-haired Sinbad as he looked down at Tettia.

Pouting, Tettia looked up at him. "You heard me! We're already in Artemyra's territory. They are a country that manipulates birds in order to control the skies. If, by any fucking chance, they decided that you were an enemy, and we weren't allowed to enter the country, what would you do? Tora would personally kill you," she said seriously, still pouting.

Ja'far nodded and grew irritated. "Djinn Equips and Household Vessels aren't yet recognized by the world, right? If they saw you in that form as something hostile, then the _whole point_ of coming out to this country would be lost. Do you understand _that_?!" Sinbad looked at the young assassin and at Tettia with a now understanding expression, and one of horror as Ja'far continued, " _ALSO_ , you're not the only one who's tired… everyone else is staying quiet and continuing walking… moreover… even I'm feeling hot… and _very_ irritated!"

"GYAAAH! Ja'far, you're strangling me! It hurts! TETTIA! HELP ME!"

"Killjoy, knock it off," said Tora as she grabbed the young boy.

"FINE! But I'm tying him up."

Tettia snickered as she smirked at Sinbad, "Now _that_ I can get behind. I like my men tied up."

Her statement had everyone, but Hinahoho and Tora, blushing. "TETTIA!" exclaimed a blushing Ja'far, tying up Sinbad in his wires.

"What, don't blame me. He looks good tied up like that, not gonna lie," she spoke, licking her lips teasingly.

Tora groaned, "Let's just get walking."

"Aye!"

* * *

"Everyone! The sun has set!" exclaimed Tettia and Mystras.

Tora looked around and then added, in a monotone voice, "Oh yeah, and we're here at Artemyra." Sinbad and Hinahoho looked relieved, silently asking if it was real. "Yeah, it's real. Now Tet can take good care of you, Captain Moron."

"Oh yes~! I will gladly do that," Tettia said with an almost seductive smile directed at Sinbad.

That smile had Sinbad laughing knowingly, walking up to her and wrapping his arm around her waist as he said, "Yay me. I can't wait to get to our hotel room. Can you, gorgeous?"

"Nope, can't wait. So let's go," replied Tettia. Tora laughed and followed after her best friend and Captain Moron. They all followed.


	7. Fun Time

**Chapter Seven: Our Time in Artemyra**

 **A/N: There will be some [possible] mature content in this chapter just because it adds to the funniness. Don't read if you can't handle.**

* * *

The group walked into the ravine, into Artemyra. "People! Birds! Buildings crowded into a ravine… _this_ is… the Artemyra Kingdom," gasped both Sinbad and Tettia. Women riding on the backs of large birds smiled and waved at the boys, who successfully made it through the ravines — they knew that Tettia and Tora would do it, no problem. "A matrilineal society living on the cliffs of the ravine, Artemyra…" hummed Tettia, looking around.

Wrapping an arm around her, Sinbad smiled and said, "It's different from both Sasan and Imuchakk… a country with its own unique culture. There are many things we can only learn by seeing them in person."

"Yeah, like how to live here, they control those fucking massive birds to get around," spoke Tora.

Ja'far shook his head. "But, _please_ , don't think we're here for sightseeing. Artemyra gave us permission to enter their country after _extensive_ correspondence. I'd like to say let's head for the palace right now, but…" he trailed off and sighed, "UGH! We stink!"

Laughing, Tettia replied, "I suppose that's only natural for four guys and two girls who just spend the past day climbing up the side of a ravine. I suggest before we head to the palace, we get a room at an inn and take a bath."

"I call taking a bath with Tet!" exclaimed Sinbad.

Pinching his cheek, Tettia said quietly, "How about not announcing that out loud? We don't need this place disliking men more than they do because of your naughty statements you spout. Understand me?"

"Ow ow ow! Yes ma'am!" he whined.

Releasing his cheek, she smiled and answered, "Good Sin. Now to find some natives." Just as she said that, two women walked by. "Excuse me, ma'am?"

"Yes?" one blonde answered.

"Do you, by any chance, have an inn that my friends and myself could bathe and house in for the night?" Tettia asked.

The girl cupped her face and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Hm? An inn? No, I'm afraid we don't have anything like that. I'm really sorry, but our country rarely has visitors, so it's only natural," she answered.

Everyone's face fell. "N… no way…" Tora, Tettia and Sinbad said in unison.

"And moreover, you men seriously smell. Ew! This is why men are so filthy!" the two blondes exclaimed.

Tora sighed, "This is fucking troublesome for us, too, ya know!"

"Don't you have _some_ kind of boarding house or _at least_ place we could bathe?" asked Ja'far and Tettia asked.

"Sure, you can bathe in the rivers at the bottom of the ravine. Besides that, your only option is pretty much the red-light district."

"RED-LIGHT DISTRICT?!" Mystras, Sinbad and Tettia exclaimed, the redhead Fanalis almost choking on her own spit.

The blondes nodded and said, "The people of Artemyra are open-minded about sex, so the red-light district has _really_ developed. If you go there, you can find a place to stay."

Sighing, the little killjoy spoke, "As expected of a _red-light district_ … let's skip bathing."

"Ja'far…" began their captain. Tora sighed and braced for the worst. "To head to the royal palace without bathing would be incredibly rude… if there aren't any boarding houses, it can't be helped. Let's go to the red-light district," he said, looking at Tettia with a certain look in his eyes. Sinbad began to essentially undress her with his golden eyes. He looked her up and down, throughly enjoying what his mind was conjuring up what was under her clothes.

"I refuse," the killjoy simply refused.

Sinbad almost fell over comically, exclaiming, "JA'FAR! Are you saying that it's fine to smell like this?! I'm sure Tet is itching to bathe! Right, Tet?!"

Throwing her hands up in defense, Tettia said, "Hey, you leave me outta this, little boy. You're the one looking at me like you're already undressing me with those deviously gorgeous eyes of yours."

"Exactly! I won't tolerate you causing problems with women as soon as we step foot into a country! Please quit fucking around!" yelled the young white-haired boy.

Tora laughed hysterically, "Killjoy, I don't think he'd be causing troubles with women. He'd probably just disappear with Tet and we would only hear the sounds of her pleasure!"

"THAT IS EVEN WORSE!" shouted Ja'far. "WE DON'T NEED THEM FUCKING RIGHT NOW! WE ARE HERE FOR _DIPLOMATIC_ BUSINESS!"

While those four were doing their thing, Mystras looked over at the hulking giant that was Hinahoho. "Hinahoho… is the red-light district a paradise that's full of women? I read that in a book… do they mean that red-light district?!" asked the young knight.

The older Imuchakk sweat-dropped as he answered, "Just what kind of book did you read _that_ in…" he looked over his shoulder, away from the other five, who were watching Ja'far and Sinbad fight childishly. "… Well, let's go check it out. While I'm opposed to girls throwing around words like _red-light district_ …" he said and looked around to see many blondes working diligently, "No matter where I look, the women are working energetically. They're all so lively… this is a good country."

"They probably are so lively because they have a fun time sexing it up whenever they aren't working. Women are happier when they have an orgasm, don't'cha know," Tora said with a devious smile.

Everyone's face, but Hinahoho and Sinbad, grew tomato red. "TORA!" yelled a furiously blushing Tettia. "I DON'T NEED SIN KNOWING THAT!"

Winking at Sinbad, Tora shrugged and said, "Oops, guess I couldn't keep my mouth shut. It just slipped out."

Tettia wanted to throttle her best friend, but found herself almost glued to Sinbad, as his grip on her waist was back and tighter than ever. He was grinning wolfishly at her, like he had a plan for her. "S-Sin…?" the half-Fanalis asked. The captain just looked at her with a predatory gaze, seemingly undressing her with his eyes once again. "S-stop looking at me like that…"

Everyone remained silent as Sinbad undressed Tettia with his eyes, his grin growing wider as he liked the mental image he got of himself making her _happier_. Tora slapped her hand over her mouth and held her shaking side, trying to hold back the hysteric laughter that was threatening to burst from within her. When she had said that little bit of information, Tora had not thought that Sinbad would immediately set a goal of making Tettia _happier_.

"I really want to form a cooperative alliance with this country, too," Ja'far's voice cut through the silence.

"Yeah…" Sinbad said in a drawn out manner, his eyes never leaving Tettia's figure.

Tora coughed, "… but for now, let's find a goddamn place to bathe."

Sinbad's grin grew impossibly wider. "I agree to that! The river's at the bottom of the ravine, right? I wonder if we can climb down there from here," he said. "Can't wait, can you, Tet?"

"I-…I can, actually!" she squeaked.

"Aww, c'mon Tet, let Captain Moron make you _happy,_ " laughed Tora.

Tettia glared at her best friend. "You bitch! Look what you've done to Sin! Now he's looking at me with predatory eyes! If I look incredibly happy later, you're the first one I kill when I snap outta it!" she growled.

"Oh, but you love me and you'll love it," Tora retorted.

"FUCK YOU!" exclaimed Tettia as Sinbad quickly ran to the river at the bottom of the ravine.

Ja'far grimaced, Mystras blushed as the duo ran off, Tora laughed hysterically, Hinahoho just shook his head. "I guess we should wait until they come back!" laughed the purplenette.

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" yelled Ja'far.

* * *

Well, Sinbad and Tettia were gone for a while (at least a good half hour or more) and when they came back — Tettia looked like she was in a daze, yet looked incredibly relaxed (and happy) and Sinbad had the smuggest grin on his face. "I… hate you… _so much_ … Tora… _TWICE_ in thirty minutes…" she said in an incredibly happy tone.

Tora walked by them and placed a hand on her best friend's shoulder and smiled widely. "No you don't. Was it nice? Looks like you had a _really_ good time. Now, I'mma go bathe real quick," she said, bolting down the ravine.

She was not gone for more than ten minutes. "Okay! The rest of the guys can go now," she said and went they did.

Sinbad's arm had found its way around Tettia's waist once again. He was whispering into her ear things that had the half-Fanalis's face as red as her hair. One could tell he was still incredibly happy with himself, the smugness from earlier had not dissipated. "I can't wait to do _that_ again," he said.

Tettia laughed, unable to be mad at that moment, "Shut up, you fucking twit."

"So, tell me what happened?" asked Tora.

"Well, he didn't get in, if that's what you mean," replied Tettia.

Smiling deviously, Tora said, " _Oh!_ So, he's good with his hands, eh?"

"And mouth," added Tettia with a laugh.

"OOOH! Go Captain Moron!" Tora exclaimed, shoving his shoulder.

Sinbad shrugged and replied with a wink, "What can I say? She was constantly begging for more."

Tora gasped and looked at Tettia, looking for confirmation. "Well, when you're _that_ good, how could I not beg for more?" the redhead answered.

"You two are fucking terrible!" laughed Tora.

Tettia shrugged. "It's your fault. You're the dumbass who said women are happier when they have an orgasm!"

"I don't regret anything!"

* * *

Once the bathing was content, the group went to the palace. A woman greeted them. "You admirably travelled here from a distant land. Her majesty is waiting. Please, come this way. However, don't try her majesty's patience… make sure you're sincere and don't be careless."

Sinbad held a serious look, as did everyone else. Tettia's seriousness was dulled because she was still almost deliriously happy. They walked into the throne room and bowed before the queen. "Your majesty the Queen. We of Sindria Trading Company are extremely honored that you granted us an audience. I'm the head of the company, Sinbad. I'm a trader based in Reim that travels the world," he said with the utmost respect, "I'd like to establish a new trade rout with Artemyra…"

The queen gave no answer. Tettia looked at her and thought, _Strange… why isn't she answering Sinny?_

"Your majesty…" began Tora, "Have we done something inappropriate? If we did something to offend you…"

The woman behind them began snickering and laughing hysterically at them. "AHAHA! _This_ is entertaining!" She walked up to the _queen_ , saying, "You're the first outside visitors we've had in a while. So I just had to play a little prank on you. This is just an ordinary doll." The woman sat down on the throne and put on her crown. " _I_ am the queen of Artemyra: Mira Dianus Artemina. Visitors, entertain me!" Her red eyes pierced everyone.

"H-huh?!" questioned Tettia.

"Hahaha! I wanted to see those faces. It seems I surprised you. People from foreign countries usually look down on us because we're women. Doing this is my way of chastising them. You did well, didn't you? You didn't crack jokes in the hallway… and you made sure to say things that would make an impact as soon as you entered. And moreover, you have two lovely women as advisors. Which one of them is Rurumu?" asked the blonde, red wine-eyed beauty that was queen Mira.

Ja'far spoke up, "Act… actually, Rurumu is currently pregnant. These two are…"

"Let the ladies introduce themselves, boy," said Mira.

Tora bowed and introduced herself, "I am Tora. A pleasure to see such a powerful women as a queen."

Tettia bowed and introduced herself, "I am Tettia, but you may call me Tet if you please. And I must agree with Tor, it is such a pleasure to see such a powerful and beautiful woman as queen."

Mira smiled and laughed, "Why thank you, my kind ladies. It truly is sad that you are lead by a man. They are lazy, lack sincerity, and think of nothing else but profits. They only exist in my country as a means of us to have descendants."

Tettia laughed, "Right? Now, may we discuss opening up a new trade route with this wonderful country of yours, your majesty."

"But of course, let us begin," Mira said.

Tora and Tettia smiled. "Should we kick out the degenerates?" they asked with a devious smile.

"Yes! Men, get out while we conduct our business!" commanded Mira.

Ja'far wanted to stay, but agreed, "Yes, your highness." The men got up and left, they all hoping that their two female companions secure trade with Artemyra.

* * *

Several hours later, Tora and Tettia exited the throne room with the queen. Sinbad bounded up to Tettia, taking her hands in his, asking on bated breath, "How did it go? Did you two secure trade with the Kingdom?!"

"Yeah, we did, but… you won't like what you boys have to do before that happens," replied Tettia, averting her eyes.

"What did you two do?!" hissed Ja'far.

Tora scratched her cheek. "Welp, we told Mira here that you, Captain Moron and Mystras would survive being thrown into the deepest chasm they have in the kingdom. And that Hina could be used in some experimenting…" she said.

"WHAT?!" the men exclaimed.

"It was the only way I would agree to commence trade with a Trading Company headed by a man," said Mira as she had her guards surround them.

Tettia shrugged, "Sorry…" The men were taken away. Tettia, Tora and Mira all laughed.

* * *

They arrived at the chasm, the men were tied up. "Sinny looks good tied up," gushed Tettia.

"Tet! Be serious!" exclaimed Mira. "He's not that attractive anyways."

"That's a matter of opinion, Mira! Also, sorry, he just looks so good~" Tettia continued to gush. "I could use some rope later~!"

Tora laughed, "You're a fucking horn-ball, Tet!"

"Shut up!" retorted the redhead.

Sinbad looked over the chasm and said through gritted teeth, "What the…?! This chasm is…"

Mira smiled and said, "This chasm is the deepest in our country, the _Valley of The Dead_. We have no space to accommodate excess people, so it's our custom to throw criminals down there. No one thrown into the valley had ever returned alive. It's good that the starve down and rot down there. However, Tettia avidly protested that you three could survive and make it out of there."

"N-no way… I don't wanna die like this!" whimpered Mystras.

Hinahoho tried to help, but was pinned down by spears.

Sinbad clenched his fists and made his Djinn shine. He did not know that Mira was also a Djinn wielder, so her Metal Vessel also glowed. "Oh, that was something Tor and Tet never told me. You're a king candidate with the power of a Djinn, too. If you're a Metal Vessel user… then maybe you're not just another boor. However… I can't have you using that and cheating death. Hey! Take his Metal Vessel! Take everything off of them. Someone else could still be hiding something. Search them throughly. Tet, since you're so infatuated with Sinbad, why don't you strip-search him," Mira said with a smile.

"Gladly!" exclaimed Tettia as she walked towards Sinbad. "Don't worry, you'll be fine without this," she said, taking his sword, "Now I can finally undress you~" That she did, and everything seemed to go slowly as Sinbad watched with his breath caught in his throat. Soon he was completely de-robed and Tettia had retreated from his form, with a satisfied grin gracing her lips.

A woman flirted with Mystras before they all were pushed off the edge. "Bye bye!"

"Think they'll be fine?" whispered Tettia to Tora.

"Little late for that thought, isn't it? Plus, this is King Moron we're talking about, he'll be fine. They all will," the purplenette replied. When the best friends looked up from the edge of the chasm, they saw all the women drooling over Hinahoho and his muscular body. "Welp, apparently Hina's attractive to them."

"They've never seen a man as built as him, I'd be thirsty too if I had puny men from this kingdom. Most jobs are held by the woman, therefore, the men have no means to build up muscles. They're homebound," replied Tettia.

"True!"

Tettia sat down. "I'mma miss that idiot until he gets back!" she whined.

Tora sat down beside her best friend and patted her shoulder. "I know you will. I'mma miss Killjoy. He's fun to tease."

"He is! The look on his face when you said the orgasm thing was priceless!" laughed Tettia, leaning back onto the ground, looking up at the blue sky.


	8. That Damn Chasm

**Chapter Eight: The Escape from the Chasm**

 **A/N: Another slightly mature content warning for one part when they're in the chasm.**

* * *

The three men moaned in pain. "…Hey, everyone okay?" asked Sinbad.

"Yeah… it seems like we were saved thanks to the moss down here," someone replied.

Another one groaned, "My body hurts _everywhere_ , but just being alive after falling from that height is a miracle…"

"That's for sure. I hope Hinahoho's okay up there, too… sure Tet and Tora are with him, but they had to strike up that deal!"

Ja'far got huffy, "Why would they do that to us?!"

"I don't know but we will make it back alive! They believed in us enough to say that to the queen!" both Sinbad and Mystras exclaimed.

"You're both just saying that to get laid," sighed Ja'far. "NOW PUT SOMETHING ON!"

Sinbad and Mystras looked at him with confusion, "Why?"

"Do want people to see you like that when we get up there?!"

Sinbad smiled, crossed his arms and said in the smuggest way, "Well, the person I want to see me like this _has already_ seen me naked, so, it's not like I particularly care anymore."

"WELL I DO! Put on something!" yelled Ja'far. "I'm not letting women see me naked!"

Sinbad found some leaves. "Found something," he said, picking up the leaves.

* * *

"They died, didn't they?" asked Tettia as she sat at the edge of the chasm of which they were pushed into. She had gone out and sat at that edge ever since Sinbad, Ja'far and Mystras were pushed over. "We never shoulda made that deal, Tor. We shoulda just accepted her offer without saying how much faith we have in them…"

Tora leaned on her best friend and wrapped an arm around her. "I know they're alive, Tet. They must have a good reason to keep us waiting, but fuck, I hope they come back quickly. Hina's not looking too good."

"He's been used as a fuck-toy since they left… a few weeks ago. Mira hasn't told her girls to let up on poor Hinahoho."

"EXACTLY MY FUCKING POINT! ALSO, you and Captain Moron still need to happen, officially!"

Tettia laughed loudly, "True! For Ali!" She stood up from the ledge.

"Where are you goin', Tet?" asked Tora.

"I'm going to asked Miri to allow me to go down there and help those dumbasses. They need it," said a determined half-Fanalis.

Jumping up immediately, Tora grabbed Tettia's right arm. "Tet, don't get crazy! You really fucking think Mira will actually let you go down there and help those damn idiots?! That wasn't part of the goddamn agreement! They're supposed to prove themselves to her by doing this alone!" she exclaimed.

"But I can't lose Sinny, Tor! I love him," retorted Tettia. "It's worth a try!"

Tora groaned loudly and reluctantly agreed, "FUCK! FINE! Let's go!"

"Yay!" Tettia exclaimed. The duo started to walk back towards the Artemyra Royal Palace. Once they reached the palace, Tettia and Tora walked into a room, where Mira was seated, watching over her girls. "Mi~ri~" cooed Tettia.

Mira looked over at the half-Fanalis. "Yes, Tet? What is it that you want?" she asked.

"Well, I was gonna ask you if I could go down into the chasm to help them."

"What?! Why would want to do something like that?! For those men?!" asked a hysteric queen.

Tettia looked Mira in the eyes and said, "Because I genuinely have feelings for Sinbad, Mira. And I can't bear the thought of living a life without him in it. So, _please_ , let me go down there and help them get out."

Turning her wine-red eyes towards the redhead's purplenette best friend, the queen asked, "She is not being serious, is she, Tora?"

"I'm afraid she's being one-hundred percent serious, Mira," sighed Tora.

Mira looked at Tettia. The look in the redhead's crimson eyes was almost overwhelming. Finally, after a good while of looking into Tettia's eyes for validation, she caved and said, "Fine. I give you my permission to go help them. However, Tora stays up here with me. Since I know how much you two can do together, your best friend must stay behind."

Tettia's eyes lit up and she exclaimed, "Thank you _so much_ , Miri!"

"You're welcome, Tet. I can see the look in your eyes, as well — you would have gone with or without my permission, yet you asked as to not anger me," said Mira.

"CORRECT! But, I'll wait until nighttime to leave. That way none of your girls think I am betraying you."

Mira sighed, "Even though they will ask questions when you are nowhere to be seen tomorrow. What should I tell them? To not worry about it?"

"Exactly!" exclaimed Tora with a grin.

Laughing, Mira replied, "You two are impossible."

Wrapping an arm around each other's necks, Tora and Tettia snickered, "We know! But we're impossible to hate!"

* * *

At the bottom of the chasm, in a new area, Mystras, Sinbad and Ja'far had gotten accustomed to life at the bottom of the chasm. As he had a log in his hand, he grew infuriated and finally Mystras screamed, "WHAT ARE WE DOING GETTING SO ACCUSTOMED TO LIFE HERE?! It's strange, isn't it?! Please remember _why_ we're here!"

Ja'far and Sinbad looked at him, sweat-dropping and with blank faces at his outburst. "Why we're here…?" the purple-haired captain said. "In order to live," the white-haired and purple-haired men both said in unison.

"THAT'S NOT IT!" yelled the young knight, throwing the log onto the ground angrily. "This is the Artemyra Kingdom! We were thrown into this valley after Tet and Tora struck up a deal with the queen! That we'd live and make it out of this damn chasm! Don't you want to get out of here?!"

"…Now that you mention it, that's true."

"Yeah, I remember now."

"Then, you guys…!" exclaimed Mystras.

Sinbad held his kabab over the fire as he said, "But, this is an unexpectedly good place to live."

"It's a much better environment than when I was with the organization," said Ja'far.

Mystras groaned and said, "Sinbad! Do you not care about Tet?! Do you think that she has been sitting around waiting patiently for your return?! We've been gone _for weeks_ , I'm sure she waited for maybe a week, then I'm sure she's already given herself away to another man! After all, she is a beautiful woman, I'm sure some other men have made advances towards her."

Sinbad hesitated, but ultimately answered with, "Living down here reminds me of what it is to truly _live_."

Mystras fumed with anger. "… I don't need that sort of understanding… I want to get out of here as soon as possible… and when I get out, I'm going to have some fun with Tet myself! Seeing as you won't be able to!" he exclaimed.

Now that almost had Sinbad grow angry. "Really now?" he hissed.

"Yes, really!" Mystras lied. He would never touch Tettia, other than a hug, because he knew how Sinbad felt about her — and how she felt about Sinbad.

* * *

When night fell, Mystras set out, trying to find a way out of the chasm. That was when the unexpected happened. The young knight heard a voice from above and when he looked up, he faintly saw a falling Tettia. "Oh god!" he exclaimed, dropping his torch and held his arms out.

Tettia landed in his arms, her face scrunched up, as if she was prepared for the hard impact with the ground. When she opened one of her eyes, she noticed she was being held. "M-Mystri?!" she exclaimed in surprise.

"T-Tet?! What are you doing falling from the sky?!" asked a hysteric scarlet-haired knight.

Stepping down from his grasp, Tettia patted her clothes. "Well, I was sick an' tired of waiting around for your dumb _asses_ , so I decided to jump down here to come and FIND you! Since you three can _apparently_ not uphold your end of the deal! Mira was against me coming down here, but eventually allowed me and only me to come down here. Tora, my best friend who I'm never apart from, wasn't allowed to come with me — do you know how PISSED I am?! NOW WHERE ARE THE OTHER DUMB-FUCKS?!" she exclaimed angrily.

She angrily stepped and slipped on something and she immediately grabbed onto Mystras's arm. "Wow," exclaimed the knight, as he caught her with his other arm wrapping around her waist. "What did you slip on?" he asked as he looked below her foot and noticed meat. "I have to take this back to Sinbad and Ja'far!"

Tettia picked up the meat. "Then, take me to them!"

Mystras smiled and said, picking up his torch from the ground, "Of course."

The two went back to the _camp_. Tettia smiled and whispered right before they went into the hut where the other two slept, "I have a funny idea."

"What is it?" asked Mystras.

"Well, I was thinking that I take off my clothes, too," she said with a smirk.

Cue massive blush from our lovable knight. "D-do you really want to?!" he whisper-yelled.

She shrugged, handing him the meat. "Yeah, I don't give a fuck who sees me naked. …Okay, I give a bit of a fuck who sees me naked. But I know you won't do anything to me when I sleep next to Sin," she said, taking off her clothes.

"O-okay!" he said, entering the hut. He laid down in his bed, which was next to Ja'far's.

Tettia smiled and nuzzled up beside Sinbad, on his left side. "Oh~ I can't wait for him to wake up~" she cooed, kissing his cheek. "Goodnight Mystri~ Thanks for catching me, by the way."

"N-no problem…"

* * *

Sinbad stirred from his slumber and felt a warmth that was previously not there wrapped around the left side of his body. He knew it was not Ja'far, nor would the young former assassin ever cuddle up to anyone willingly. Opening his golden eyes, they were immediately drawn to a streak of red, wavy hair. _T-Tet?!_ his mind thought, scrambling at the thought that she had been there. Surely this had to be a trick of the light, a part of his mind tried to rationalize. _Yeah right, if it were, I wouldn't be feeling warmth on my left side,_ his mind snapped. "N-no… way…" he muttered, his eyes widened when his mind wondered off as to why he was so warm on his left side. In an attempt to prove that she was not in the state of attire his mind had conjured up, he peaked under the leaf-covers. " _Ffffuuuucccckkkk_ …" he muttered as he saw her _utter_ lack of clothes.

Even though he was very quiet, Tettia had been stirred from her slumber. She felt that Sinbad's whole body had heated up and she smiled devilishly to herself. Upturning her crimson eyes, she smiled contently. "Oh, good morning, Sin," she said quietly. Swinging her left leg around his waist, Tettia had hoisted herself up (leading to her having straddled the young Sinbad), a devilish smile replacing her previously content one. "You look so _excited_ to see me," Tettia whispered, leaning in close to his ear.

"Y-you're… here…? Now…? Is this a good dream," he asked, reaching up to touch her face.

Tettia covered his hand with hers and kissed it. "Oh no, this is all too real. I came to get you, Sinbad. I can't go losing someone else I love, now can I? I lost you once… and I don't intend on losing you again," she said, leaning down to kiss him.

He gladly kissed her back, feverishly and passionately — as if he needed her kiss like he needed water. Weeks of built up emotions were released in that kiss: mainly weeks of missing her, which had felt so much longer than mere weeks. Pulling her closer by her waist, he successfully deepened the kiss. And wow did he _just_ notice how well they molded together, as if a match made in heaven. He wanted the kiss to never end, but alas, oxygen was an essential part of living, so they had to pull away.

"Oh yeah, you _really_ missed me," she said, quietly gasping. "Now, if you'd excuse me, I must put my clothes on before the others wake up." Getting up off Sinbad, she walked over to the entrance of the hut, where her clothes were strewn. Quickly, she put on her clothes and then returned to straddling Sinbad. "Okay, I'm back~ Sorry, but I don't want anybody else seeing me in a state of dress, or lack thereof, but you," she hummed, combing her fingers through what hair of his she could.

"Glad you think that, I'd have to kick them out if they had woken up when you were still naked," Sinbad said with a smirk, sitting up. "Now, care to tell me why you're here?"

Smiling, she answered, "I already told you, handsome: I came to get you… and Mystri and Jaffy. Miri wasn't _exactly_ up for me joining you three morons down here, but she did agree only on the condition that Tora remained up there with her. We have to get out of here fast, I don't like being away from Tora for too long — especially since she's the one I know most of all."

Sinbad chuckled, "But it's so nice living down here, Tet."

"You dumbasses are naked, Sinbad," sighed Tettia.

"Yeah? And?"

" _And_ I'm not living down here with three naked men for the rest of my life. Especially since I'm the only one with clothes on. We are getting out of this fucking chasm, Sin. You, me, Mystri and Jaffy. Hinahoho is being used up there and are you not even the slightest bit worried?"

"But it's a good place to live down here."

Tettia pinched his cheek and hissed, "We. are. getting. outta. this. godforsaken. chasm. understand. me?"

Sinbad whined loudly. "OWWWWW! Let my cheek go!"

His whining caused Ja'far and Mystras to stir from their sleep. "Sin, what are you whining about?" asked a sleepy Ja'far. It did not take him long to see the blur of red on top of Sinbad. "Who's that?!" he exclaimed.

"Morning, Jaffy," Tettia said with a sweet smile.

Ja'far fell backwards, blushing. "T-Tettia?! What a-are you doing h-here?!"

"Oh, I can to get to three _lovely_ men… out of this godforsaken chasm," she said. "Oh, also! Mystri and I found meat last night."

"WHEN DID YOU GET HERE?!" yelled a now confused Ja'far. At the sound of _meat_ both Sinbad and Ja'far jumped up. "ALSO: YOU FOUND WHAT?!" Mystras got up, as did everyone and the went outside. The fresh meat was on a leaf plate. "F… fresh meat?!"

Sinbad looked at the meat. "It's a little spoiled in places. But… it's a great piece of meat!"

"Wh… why is something like this down here?!" asked the young killjoy. "Tet, Mystras, how did you find this?!"

"Last night, while I was exploring the valley, Tet fell from the sky. I caught her and then she slipped, leading us to find it on the ground. We found it in this processed state," explained Mystras.

"So… in other words… Today we'll have a fresh meat party!" exclaimed Sinbad as he and Ja'far punched the air.

Both Tettia and Mystras fumed and exclaimed, "NO! Please use some common sense. This is obviously processed meat that was cut into this shape by people. It's strange that something like that just _fell_ down here, isn't it?! It can't be a coincidence. Someone purposefully left it here. This will become a clue to discovering an escape plan!" As they said all that, the content duo started to cook the meat. The two redheads fell to the ground and exclaimed, "Aah! You're eating it!"

"I like mine rare. Tet, what do you like your meat?" asked Sinbad.

"No! You have to cook it properly," said Ja'far.

Tettia and Mystras cried with each other as Sinbad started eating the meat. They all heard a crunching noise. Spitting into his hand, Sinbad found precious stones. "What are these stones?"

"Ah, those are gemstones. Now that I think about it, there are a lot of rockslides in this valley. We just always ignored them because we can't eat the rocks," said Ja'far.

Sinbad laughed, "Yep. Cause they're not edible."

Tettia slumped over onto Mystras, sighing, "Gemstones… _GEMSTONES_ are valued less than meat here… what the fuck…? Those two really don't have the will to leave anymore, do they?"

"No, they don't. And now that you're here, Sinbad is content," he said, tears pricking his eyes still.

"Hey, Mystras," said Sinbad as he took the knight by the shoulder. "Good job! This is definitely an important discovery. I'll help you figure out what's really going on here! So, take us to where you found Tet and the meat!"

"S-sure…" he agreed.

"We go at nighttime!" exclaimed Tettia.

"Yeah!"

* * *

Night fell, Mystras and Tettia lead them to where the half-Fanalis had fallen from the sky and where the meat was found. "This is where I found Tet and the meat."

Ja'far and Sinbad gasped and exclaimed, looking at all meat. "What's all this?! There was nothing here during the day… but not that it's night, all this meat has appeared?!"

Tettia and Mystras looked at the meat and the knight said, "Yeah… all this in one night. Who would do this and for what purpose…" he looked at the two men and saw they were gathering meat. "PLEASE DON'T GRAB ALL THE MEAT WHILE I'M TALKING!"

"Mystras, Tet… I'm also curious about the origins of this meat. But we should gather up all the meat first. This meat was delicious," Sinbad said, drooling a bit.

"What are you saying, you idiot?! Figuring out the fucking truth should come first!" exclaimed Tettia, who grabbed the meat from Sinbad's hands. "This might be a clue to help us escape!"

Sinbad reached for the meat she took, but she pushed him away. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY MEAT?!"

Ja'far gasped as he saw one of the huge birds used by the citizens of Artemyra. It swooped down and took the meat from the ground. "Sin! That bird is stealing our meat!" The young killjoy looked back and saw more of them. "And these ones too!" Soon the birds had left. "The meat… the birds took all of it…"

"…no way…" cried Mystras, "But I thought it could be a clue to get us out of here… and now you're telling me this is just a feeding ground for those birds…"

Tettia sat beside him and rubbed his back, "It's okay, Mystri. Even if that happened, you still have us."

He sniffled, "Thanks, Tet!"

"Yes. Perhaps we've managed to stay alive until today… because fate has been on out side," said Sinbad.

* * *

The next night, they went back to the valley. "Ja'far, Mystras, Tet, we'll gather up all the meat again today! Pick up every piece before the birds come to get it! Don't leave a single piece behind! Give it your all!"

Tettia sighed heavily, "Oh, I'll give it my all, Sin! Give it my all kicking your ass out of this fucking chasm!"

"Sinbad, you said things like _'It's alright. Fate is on our side,'_ but in the end, you really just wanted to eat all this meat!"

Sighing, Tettia gathered up the meat. As did Ja'far, throwing piece by piece of meat into his basket. "Don't worry, Mystras. Sin has some kind of plan. Even if we think this is meaningless, he's the type of person whose actions can change fate. So, let's believe in him. Isn't that right, Tet?"

"Oh yeah, sure. If that's the case, then tell me why I jumped down here to bring your dummies back?" snorted Tettia, glaring softly at the white-haired killjoy.

Sinbad walked up beside her and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Because you missed me so much, you couldn't bare to be away from me any longer," he said. "Oh! Look, you guys! This one is fresh and not rotted! It'll be delicious!" he exclaimed, running over to the piece of meat.

"What were you saying, Jaffy?" asked a smirking Tettia.

Mystras looked blankly at Ja'far, saying, "To Tet and myself, he doesn't look like anything but someone who wants to eat meat…"

"It's just your imaginations. Got it, you two? Your imaginations," retorted killjoy.

That was when a huge piece of meat was thrown down. Tettia looked at it and said flatly, "Oh look, a _giant_ piece of meat."

"I-it's so big… one person couldn't eat it all. It makes all the small pieces from before seem like a lie," said Mystras.

"It really does," Tettia said, ever flatly.

Mystras drew a knife carved from rock. "But, it's too big for us to carry home, so let's cut it up into smaller pieces…"

Tettia stepped towards the piece of meat and drew one of her daggers from within her clothes. "Step back, Mystri… I got this. Steel cuts better than stone, yeah?"

"WAIT, TET!" yelled Sinbad, grabbing her wrist.

Blankly looking at him, she sighed, "Huh? What? I thought you were content with wasting around down here?"

"Not true! That was a lie! I've… been waiting all this time for this piece of meat to come… and of course it's not so we can eat it. This is our destined transportation," he said with a smile.

Sighing, Tettia withdrew her dagger. She looked at Sinbad with a growing smile. "You idiot!" she laughed hysterically. "But, fine, fine! We'll get out this way!"

* * *

The birds had grabbed the large pieces of meat that the four of them had grabbed onto. There were two blondes, one looked over her shoulder and said, "They brought it back this time."

"That takes care of all your complains, right? So, collect the gems…" the other said.

The men got to picking the gems out of the pieces of meat. That was when the naked trio and their clothed female friend were seen hanging from three pieces of meat. The two blondes looked at them all, both clearly shocked. "KYAAAAAAA! WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY?!" the blondes screamed as they all landed.

"My strategy succeeded," said Sinbad.

Tettia, upon landing, had fallen to the ground with a loud _THUD!_. She was laughing so hard, her sides had begun to hurt and tears streamed from her eyes. "OH MY FUCKING GOD! THAT WAS GOOOOOOOLDEN!" she laughed loudly, rolling around on the ground. "I-I can't breath!"

"There were things stuck to the meat, so I thought it must mean something… now I get it. The reason behind it all," said a hardened eyed Ja'far.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Ja'far?" asked the knight.

Ja'far looked around and said, "They throw the meat down into the valley, and the birds bring the meat back that has the gems stuck to it. Then it's their job to collect all the gems. The valley is full of snakes, so people don't go down there. No one would think that we were taking the meat that was thrown down to collect the gems. If birds can't bring back the meat, then they can't collect the gems. I'm sure they were thinking about that."

Sitting up, yet still remaining on the ground, Tettia said, "Therefore, dropping larger pieces of meat could only raise the ability that the birds would bring it back. For example, if they dropped a piece of meat big enough for a person to hold on to… then that person could be carried up with the meat. And we used that to our advantage."

Sinbad grabbed some cloth and made some clothes from it. "That's right. And it let us easily escape from the valley," he said. The way he looked in those make-shift clothing reminded Tettia of when she first met Sinbad in Balbadd; she almost said something, but reminded herself that she had been sent back in time. "However," continued Sinbad, "The men of Artemyra, who we never saw within the city, are… to think that they are being made to work in a place like this… could it be that all of you are being treated unfairly by the women…?"

"Being treated unfairly?" one asked.

"Ah ha ha. That's not it at all," laughed another one. "Were you thinking we were slaves or something like that?"

Tettia stood up from the ground and said, giggling, "Sin, you goofball. They're just ordinary house-husbands. For generations, women have been the only ones able to control those birds in Artemyra, therefore most of the hard labor became part of their role. In exchange, the men took on the household duties and protect the home, while also doing this sort of job on the side."

Sinbad looked at them with disbelief swirling in his orbs. One of the men said, "I don't know how it is in the rest of the world, but our lives here are free of discomfort. If our women didn't work so hard, we'd be all out in the cold!"

"My wife has been so cold lately, but I don't want a divorce!" exclaimed another man.

"Mine is busy raising children, so it's impossible for her to work."

"Women have it tough, don't they? Working day after day."

The trio looked at the men with unbelieving eyes. "Artemyra's societal roles for men and women are the complete opposite of ours," said Ja'far.

"… It seems a bit strange. But, everyone seems to enjoy it," said Mystras.

Tettia and Ja'far said in unison, "Yeah, they really do."

The blondes shooed the men, saying, "Hurry up and get back to work! We'll clean things up here."

Sinbad smiled. "That's right… let's go greet the Queen and let her know that we've returned alive!"

"YES! TORA I'M COMING BACK TO YOU!" exclaimed Tettia, bounding in front of the trio.

Catching her by her waist, Sinbad stopped her and pulled her to him. "And where do you think _you're_ going, Missy?"

"To Tora?"

"Nope~ not without us."

"Sin~! Let me go!"

* * *

"Think she's okay, Mira?" asked Tora, laying in Mira's bed.

Mira looked over at Tora, who was obviously worried about Tettia. "I'm sure she's fine, Tora. That one is a strong one, even if she is a half-Fanalis," she said.

Tora laughed, "Don't I know it, but she just jumped off the edge at night. What if she fucking got herself hurt?"

"Well… why don't you ask her herself, Tor?" asked a voice from the the window.

Both Mira and Tora scrambled to look towards the window. "SINBAD?!" exclaimed the two.

Tettia poked her head from behind him. "And this bitch!"

Tora shot off of the bed and dragged Tettia into a hug. "Bitch! You were gone for days! I didn't know if you were alive or dead!"

Hugging her back, Tettia said, "I know. I know! This idiot just was content with living in the chasm for a while! I'm glad to be back! Now, Miri, they upheld their end of the deal. You now have a trade route with the Sindria Trading Company."

Mira was happy to see that Tettia had lived the jump. "Of course. I am glad that you are alright, Tet," she said with a smile.

"Thank you, your majesty."


	9. Alliance plus a Party

**Chapter Nine: Alliance Sealed and the Welcoming Party**

* * *

The three women laughed together. "While I am happy you made it out okay, I am disappointed that those three… _pigs_ … needed your assistance to get them out of the chasm," spoke Mira as she stroked Tettia's hair.

"Same here! How come those fucking idiots had to have _you_ come to their rescue?" questioned Tora as she inserted herself into Mira and Tettia's hug.

Shrugging, Tettia replied in a happy sigh (due to Mira stroking her hair), "I don't much care~ I got to tease Sinbad, and help those idiots~! Win-win for me~"

Mira smiled at the two like they were her children. "I know we had a deal, but I do wish I could have mercilessly fought that filthy pig, Sinbad. Just to prove he has what it takes to be allies with my country," she said, glaring at the purple-haired man in question.

"Buuuuut~ you can't do that, Miri~ wasn't part of our deal~" hummed Tettia.

"You seem to forget that I am the queen, whatever I says goes," the queen of Artemyra reminded the half-Fanalis.

Pulling away from the hug, Tettia looked into Mira's wine-red eyes, saying, "I have not forgotten, Mira, but I know that as a powerful woman, you cannot go back on your word. And you promised that you would grant the Sindria Trading Company trade with the Kingdom of Artemyra only after Sinbad, Ja'far and Mystras return from the chasm… _alive_. It does not matter if I had to go help them, I did that on my own volition, not solely because I wanted this agreement between us."

The queen knew that the half-Fanalis was correct and nodded. "Very well, you are correct. Tettia, go return the pigs their clothes and Tora, go return their weapons. We will continue with the finalization of our agreement tomorrow," Mira said, releasing the two younger women from her embrace. Tora and Tettia nodded and did their jobs, Sinbad being dragged out of Mira's chambers by Tettia.

* * *

Mira and Sinbad ended up fighting during the night anyways — much to Tettia's dismay. The fight was an intense battle between the two Metal Vessel users. Sinbad had used his second Djinn, Valefor's Equipment in order to beat Mira. The proud queen was, honestly, less-than-pleased that she was beaten by a man for the first time in her life. Tora was actually impressed that Sinbad had beaten Mira, with ice none-the-less; meanwhile, Tettia was stunned by Mira defeat and not to mention quite angry that the two had even fought to begin with.

* * *

The next day following Mira's defeat, Sinbad, Ja'far, Mystras, Tora and Tettia were following one of Mira's guards. The scarlet-haired knight was freaking out, exclaiming, "Ja'far… what's going to happen to us? We've offended the queen _twice_ now… are we being executed? Even though we've managed to make it back alive?! I really can't take it!"

"Mystri! Calm down," replied Tettia, "It's going to be alright, okay?"

Mystras looked at Tettia and stuttered, "B-but…!"

Tora patted his back hard as she said, "Listen to Tet, boy, it's gonna be o-fucking-kay!"

"Your majesty. They're here," the guard said. Inside the room, Mira was having something rubbed all over her naked body. Mira sighed out, "You guys sure were slow. I'm exhausted from all the waiting. Tettia, Tora, how are you two today?"

Sinbad bowed at the queen as he said, "We're honored to have another audience with you, your majesty." Mystras was blushing and his jaw was dropped at Mira's lack of clothing; Ja'far just looked at the queen in slight confusion.

Tora and Tettia laughed. "I'm doing pretty fucking good today, thanks for asking, Mira," said Tora. Tettia snickered at her best friend's comment and answered, "I'm also doing pretty good today, Miri!"

Before addressing the two females, Mira addressed the male in an irritated tone, "Ha… such empty words, Sinbad… like I could ignore you. Thanks to our battle last night, my skin is covered in blemishes, and my beautiful body is ruined. You're the first man to ever pin me down in defeat, Sinbad. I'll never forget the events of last night either… however… it's been a long time since I've felt that _excited_ … he he." The women that were rubbing what could only be ointment onto Mira's body asked their queen if it was about time for her to get dressed. Now beginning to get dressed, Mira addressed the two women, "I'm sorry for not addressing you two first, but it is good to hear that you two are doing well today."

In regard to the blonde queen's statement about the blemishes, Tettia answered, "That's why I told you not to fight him, Miri! You doubted me!"

"At least it was a good fucking fight to watch, right," snickered Tora. "Plus, you and I both know that she would have done it anyways."

Mira nodded at Tora's words. "Thank you, Tora. I would have done it anyways, Tettia," she said.

Crossing her arms, Tettia looked at Mira in a reprimanding way, "Yeah, sure. But at what cost? You, yourself, just claimed that the fight marred your beautiful body, Miri. I knew he was going to beat you, that is why I advised against it."

"I wanted to see if he was worth my cooperation," retorted Mira.

Throwing her hands into the air, Tettia exclaimed, "That's why we agreed that if Sin, Jaffy and Mystri made it out of the chasm alive, you would give us your cooperation!"

Huffing, Mira retorted, "Well, I wanted to make extra sure."

Tora touched the semi-wavy haired redhead's shoulder and sighed, "Tet. Just stop. Mira is entitled to putting Captain Moron, Killjoy and Mystras up to whatever she sees fit in order to secure our trade. This is her kingdom and she was to make sure we are strong enough to be allies with."

Sighing and looking at her purplenette friend, Tettia nodded, "Okay. You're right, Tor. I apologize for questioning your actions, Miri."

"It's alright, Tettia," Mira said, finishing putting on her clothes. She walked to her throne and sat down in it before she continued, "I apologize for our first audience. I'm sorry. And even if this is the royal palace, I've given further consideration to the outcome of diplomatic issues. I did give Tettia and Tora my word, even before you proved your worth in our fight — therefore, Artemyra will officially form an agreement with the Sindria Trading Company. We've had merchants enter on several occasions, but this is the first time the royal palace has ever agreed to do business with one. According to the trade plans set out in your correspondence, there were some preliminary business calculations that your proposed. They weren't bad. You really put a lot of thought into them. I'll dispatch one of my diplomats to your company. Please work out the details with her. This is a secluded land. We will also put all of our efforts into cooperating. If national interest increases, and products increase, it will benefit the lives of my people."

Nodding, Sinbad answered her majesty, "Thank you, your majesty."

"…At least, that's the official stance. My _real_ motivation is to ensure that you don't become my enemy, Sinbad. Having _that_ much power, yet disguising yourself as an ordinary merchants… what were you thinking… coming to this country no one visits, what were your intentions… what an ominous man. What are you _really_ after? Tell me," spoke Mira as she looked down at Sinbad.

* * *

Sinbad had explained to Mira what his intentions were. The queen hummed to herself before she said, "A world without conflict… I see what you mean. Sinbad, just as you said, these _Metal Vessels_ could be the spark that ignites the new flames of war, and sooner or later they will upset the balance of the world. In order to prevent that, and prepare for when it might happen, you want to bring people with power together to share their ideas and form an alliance… that's what you mean by bringing about _world cooperation_."

"Yes," spoke the young Sinbad, "I've already formed alliances with Rametoto of Imuchakk, and Knight King Darius of Sasan."

Tettia placed a hand on Mystras' shoulder and spoke, "This is Mystras Leoxses, as the son of the Knight King, he is accompanying us as a symbol of our alliance with Sasan."

Mira narrowed her eyes at the young purple-haired Captain and spoke, "You made an alliance with _that_ strict country of knights? Even though it is a small country, to get the king of _any_ country to buy such a wild tale… and isn't Sasan also a fairly wealthy country? I heard the Knight King invaded one of two of Sasan's neighboring countries and tried to expand their territory. _Metal Vessels_ made that a possibility. That alone is tremendous. However, creating an _alliance_ would act as a sort of binding force to restrict the use of such power. That applies to my country, too. Do you _really_ think I'll agree to that?" The end of her spear was pointed in Sinbad's face. Staring at Sinbad a few moments, Mira continued, "But… I can still understand the Knight King's motives. He lost, didn't he? In a match against you, like the one we had."

Tora laughed, "Damn right he did! But he had to coming to him! Bastard was cheating in a quote-unquote _sacred_ match against his son by using his Metal Vessel's power," the purplenette put air-quotes around _sacred_.

Shaking her head, Mira continued, "He lost in a battle of Metal Vessels to someone who seemed to be merely a merchant. If that had been a real battle, his country would have been invaded after his defeat… even a king's power is not absolute. The Knight King understood that, so he resigned and accepted your alliance. Moreover, Sasan has strong ties to Reim, doesn't it? If the _Legendary Priestess_ of Reim found out about the Metal Vessels, it would probably cause trouble."

Ja'far's interest was peaked. He looked at Mira and asked, " _Legendary Priestess_ of Reim?"

Crossing her arms, Mira spoke, "What the hell, you guys? You don't know about her even though you are merchants from Reim?"

Tora and Tettia looked at each other, despite not knowing who Mira was talking about specifically, they did know just what the blond queen meant by _Legendary Priestess_. Mira had meant a Magi. The young white-haired killjoy answered the queen, "We don't really know much about Reim's territories besides Napolia."

"Hmm… Tora. Tettia. You two seem to know what I am talking about," the queen addressed them, "so how about you two clue them in."

Tettia bowed her head, telling Tora she got it. "The _Legendary Priestess_ is someone who has devoted her life to Reim, continuing to support the prosperity of the Empire. She is a magician that has lived there for the past two-hundred years… and is perhaps one of the Legendary _Magi_ ," she explained.

"TWO-HUNDRED YEARS?!" exclaimed Ja'far and Mystras. "A legendary… _Magi_?" they also asked. The young Ja'far went on to ask, "Excuse me, but… what is a _Magi_?"

Mira looked at Tora this time, "Well? Go ahead and tell them, Tora. I have a feeling you know what a Magi is. Plus, it would seem that both you and Tettia are quite knowledgeable with this."

Nodding, Tora reluctantly agreed to tell, "A fucking _Magi_ … even now, we know jack-shit about them, but they are figures found in legends around the world. They appear during crucial junctures in history and direct the flow of the world, as well as countless lives. They are a damn special existence, and have been called the fucking _'Creators of the world'_ and _'Choosers of kings'_ due to their gotdamn _amazing_ abilities. _That_ is a _Magi_."

Sinbad looked at his two female companions, who had since stepped forward and stopped beside the queen, with eyes widened in amazement. Mira touched their shoulders, smiling at them, "Thank you, my dears." Then, she continued, "Artemyra's people have a special ability. Since long ago, we have searched for an explanation for that power, and we happened to learn about _Magi_ along the way. But, we still don't know all the details. _Magi_ have power beyond that of human comprehension. For example, it seems that with a single wave of their wand, they can raise a _tower_ that contains the power to create a king, and then lead their chosen _king_ there. Doesn't that sound like all the _dungeons_ that have been appearing around the world? But, I don't think the dungeon I conquered was raised by Reim's _Magi_ … we still have no proof the Reim's Priestess actually is a _Magi_."

 _'Magi'… 'Dungeon'… no way… Yunan?_ thought Sinbad to himself as he listened. _He couldn't be a 'Magi', could he? I just thought he was some mysterious guy, but all this make him come to mind. But, 'Magi' are a legendary existence. Does that mean that I've already met one…?_ Clearing his throat, eyes still widened, Sinbad spoke, "… your majesty… what kind of people or _Magi_?"

"Like I told you, we do not know any more details. Maybe ask Tora or Tettia," came her answer.

Turning his attention over to Tettia, Sinbad once again asked, "Tet… what kind of people of _Magi_?"

Tettia crossed her arms and tapped her chin, humming in thought. "Well, if I had to describe them… Magi are those who are loved by the Rukh. Rukh flow through the world, are the origin of life and are present in all living things in nature; they, the Rukh, are a pure existence. So, the Magi who receive the Rukh's divine protection… could be the personification of the world's will," she said and looked into Sinbad's widened golden eyes.

"The fact that dungeons have appeared worldwide, and the fact that _we_ conquered those dungeons, even by accident… we may have been lead to this point… by the will of something other than ourselves," said Mira as she held out a hand, "…that was a long preface, was it not? Thank you for contributing your knowledge, Tora and Tettia. Anyway, you are the only man I can approve of. Let us form an alliance."

Tora and Tettia smiled brightly, replying, "You're welcome, Mira!"

Sinbad looked at her hand, taking in all of this new information. After a few moments of recollection, he answered the queen with a grateful, "Thank you, your highness…"

* * *

The five of them exited the throne-room, and the young Ja'far sighed out, "I'm glad we somehow managed to settle that amicably. When you started that Djinn Equip battle with the queen, Sin, I really wondered what would happen to us."

"But somehow, it turned out fine," retorted Sinbad.

Tettia glared at Sinbad as she hissed, " _Yeahhhh_ … I'm glad we settled that well, also. Sin, what were you thinking?! You weren't supposed to start a fucking battle with Miri!"

Tora and Ja'far proceeded to throttle their captain, exclaiming, "You just abused your _(fucking)_ power and manipulated people the same way you did in Sasan! Quit being so _(gotdamn)_ irresponsible and be more _(fucking)_ diligent with your _(damn)_ studies!"

"Umm…" began Mystras, "We're leaving tomorrow, right? … So, until then… do we have free time?"

Having stopped throttling Sinbad, the young killjoy and vulgar purplenette looked over at their knight friend. "Yes. That was the plan…" answered Ja'far. "What has ya asking anyways, dip-shit?" asked Tora. Mystras was searching around, looking for something. "Mystri, what's wrong?" Tettia asked her scarlet-haired friend.

"Huh? Huh? N-n-nothing?! I _definitely_ couldn't do something with that girl just because I made it back from that valley alive?" the young knight lied, _terribly_.

Face-palming, Tettia groaned out, "You're such a _terrible_ fucking liar!"

"…What are you talking about?! Tell me, Mystras!" demanded Sinbad. "I said I couldn't do anything, didn't I?!" answered Mystras. Taking him by the shirt, Sinbad hissed, "Tell me!" Shaking his head violently, Mystras answered, "I won't!"

"Well, if it isn't the boy from before. You really did come back from the Valley of the Dead, huh?" spoke the blonde girl from before as she, and another blonde, walked up. "Her majesty the Queen praised you. She said you really had guts," she spoke.

Mystras bolted towards the young lady, exclaiming, "Is that true?! I'm so happy! I'm glad that I could do my best thanks to you!"

"Did you really want your reward of doing something with me _that_ badly? Teehehe… how cute," she said. Mystras quickly replied with a loud yes.

Sinbad gritted his teeth, "He couldn't have… was _this_ the reason he wanted to hurry up and get out of that valley?!"

"But, we've done something bad. Using one of our important guests so cruelly… it's a little late, but there is the other member of your party we had restrained. Teehehe… although we're a _bit reluctant_ to let him go…" she said with a chipper grin.

"Oh fuck! We forgot about freeing him," both the redhead and purplenette groaned as the face-palmed, covering their faces with one hand. As the last member of their party stepped forward, blondes draped all over him, the best friends peaked through their fingers: Sinbad and Ja'far's faces had contorted in an unreadable emotion while Mystras' expression was one of irritation. Hinahoho's face held a drained look, like he had been used to his breaking point. Sucking in a breath through her teeth, Tettia whispered, "I knew we were forgetting something…" Tora nodded, sucking in a breath through her teeth as well, but was too overcome with regret that came with not having helped the blue-haired giant not be used for _experiments_.

Sinbad said flatly, "Hinahoho?"

"Come see us again sometime!" called one of the blondes. "You were _really_ good!" another one said about Hinahoho. "We had him fully cooperate with our research. It felt grea— I mean, it really helped us. Thanks, Hinahoho," they thanked.

Tettia, Tora, Sinbad and Ja'far turned their heads to look at the giant only to have him turn his head away from the four of them. "Hina…" muttered Tettia as she reached out to touch his arm. "Fuck man, we're sorry…" muttered Tora as she touched his other arm. "Hinahoho… you… Rurumu…" Sinbad spoke, almost disappointed in his friend.

"I. DIDN'T. DO. ANYTHING. BAD! I never… crossed that _last_ line," screamed Hinahoho in protest.

Ja'far sighed, "Hinahoho…"

The blue-haired giant threw his hands into the air as he yelled, "It's not my fault!"

Mystras exploded in irritation, "UWAAAAAH! Hinahoho! While we were stuck living in that valley, you were up here doing such _nice_ things! How cruel! It's too cruel! I _really_ wanted to do that kind of thing, good kinds of things, with a pretty girl! Uwaaaah! Soooo cruel!"

"You do realize he was forced to do those things against his will, aye? And he is married, so technically, he committed adultery," commented Tettia as she placed a hand on her hip, looking at the whining knight — who completely ignored her statement. Placing a hand on Hinahoho's arm, Tettia said, "Don't worry, Hina… this will stay between us. Rurumu doesn't need to know about you being forced into doing those acts."

Grabbing the young knight, Sinbad said, "Mystras… don't cry anymore… Hinahoho doing those things is not what I expected, but we still have the future to look forward to, right?"

"Sinbad…" sniffled the young knight.

Sinbad continued, "That's right… we had a path open to us from the beginning, didn't we? This country's heaven that stimulated our intellectual desire. That's right… our paradise… the red-light district!"

Tora jutted her hip out, placing one of her hands on it as she sighed, rolling her eyes. "It's like Captain Moron _completely_ forgot that he has you, Tet. You just gonna sit there and take that shit," she whispered to her best friend.

"Aye… seems like he _completely_ forgot about me, Tor. Oh, but don't worry… they're in for a rude awakening. And I'm not gonna save them like I saved Alibaba, nope, this time they — specifically Sinbad — will get what they deserve," Tettia whispered back, crossing her arms as she watched the two perverts before her.

"If it's the red-light district, there are lots of pretty girls, right," yell-asked Mystras. "Yes, there are!" answered Sinbad. Mystras continued, "If it's the red-light district, we can do nice things with girls, right?!" Sinbad nodded and answered, "We can!" Mystras yelled, "SINBAD!" Sinbad yelled back, "WHAT!" The two perverts ran off, Mystras saying, "I'll follow you forever!" Sinbad laughed and said, "Yeah! Follow me!"

Tora fell over in shock at Sinbad's utter stupidity. She called as she fell over, "That young fucking moron is gonna cock-block himself _forever_ , ain't he, Tet?!"

Watching the two run off, Tettia sighed, "Aye. He will."

Ja'far watched them with a blank expression as he said, "… They are going after all, huh? To the red-light district?"

Hinahoho stood there, muttering, "It's not my fault. It's not…"

That was when one of the blonde spoke up, "Huh? The red-light district? Oh my. They don't realize, do they?"

"What?" asked Ja'far as he looked at the blonde.

The best friends sighed and Tettia began to explain, " _Sigh…_ here in Artemyra, women work outside the house, aye? The red-light district is there to soothe and entertain busy _women_. So, everyone in the shops is… a man."

Tora was laughing and started to roll around on the ground, "Men! They're gonna fuck a new man today!"

Smirking, Tettia replied to her best friend, "Oh _yes_ , they will. That'll teach Sinbad to forget about me. He coulda done things with me, but _nooooooo_ , he and Mystri had to be an idiot and think the red-light district would be full of women."

"That's a cruel thing to do, Tettia," said Ja'far.

Waving her hand in the air dismissively, Tettia answered back, "Nah, it's really not. It's just a means to teach that idiot to not dismiss the young women in front of him. Who _obviously_ would do anything to please him."

"Well, you're not wrong. You would do anything for Ki— err, I mean, Captain Moron, Tet. It's gonna be fun to see him get out of being cock-blocked this time," said Tora, picking herself off of the ground.

Casting her crimson eyes downwards, Tettia grunted as she crossed her arms, "Yeah. It will be. Bastard uses _your_ oh-so kind advice, makes me _happy_ , then fucking forgets about me and leaves me hanging like a vine offa cliff."

Tora, for the first time in ages, transformed herself into her snake form and sat on Tettia's shoulder. "Don't worry, Tet. It'll be fine~ you'll sssssssssssee," she said, tongue flicking out past her lips.

Ja'far jumped back, away from Tettia a few feet at the sight of the purplenette turning into a snake. "What the hell?!" exclaimed the young white-haired killjoy hysterically.

Tettia peered over her shoulder, the shoulder of which Tora was resting on, and looked at the young Ja'far. "What? Is something wrong, Jaffy?"

"S-she changed! Tora changed," stuttered out the young boy as he pointed at the snake on the older half-Fanalis' shoulder.

Tora turned her cute little snake head to look at Tettia, silently asking her why Ja'far was so surprised. Then it hit her, they did not yet know that she was a magician. " _Riiiiight_! Ssssorry, Killjoy. I forgot to ssssay that I am a magic usssser," the purplenette-turned-snaked said.

"Oh yeah, right. We never did tell you guys that. This," Tettia said, signaling to her snake-formed best friend, "is Tor's favorite magic. It's very complex, actually speaking. I haven't seen her in this form in a while. Now how about you stop showing off and turn back?"

Tora hissed angrily at the suggestion. "No! Fuck you, Tet! Put me of Killjoy'ssss sssshoulder, now," spoke the sassy snake.

Turning to face Ja'far, Tettia shrugged, taking the snake-formed Tora into her hand. "You okay with Tor sitting on your shoulder, Jaffy?" she asked, walking towards the young boy.

"I guess not. I mean, it's not like she is a poisonous snake," answered the young killjoy.

Placing Tora on his shoulder, Tettia smiled as she said, "Good answer, because I'm sure Tor woulda done it anyways. Wouldn't ya, Tor?" As soon as she was placed on Ja'far's shoulder, Tora dove into the collar of his shirt, for warmth; she also hissed out a yes to Tettia's question. Tettia stepped back and laughed at her friend.

* * *

"Good morning. I'll be traveling with you from today on. I am Artemyra's diplomat, Parsine Pratemia. As a representative of our alliance, and as an intermediary to help process and manage trade, I'll be joining you…" spoke the beautiful Parsine, holding her hands over her chest. She noticed Mystras and Sinbad's mood — which was very much the same as Hinahoho's. "Umm… did something happen to the two of them?"

Popping her little snake head out of Ja'far's collar, Tora answered her, "No! It'ssss nothing, Parssssine!"

"You're still in your snake form, Tor? Aren't you exhausting your Magoi doing that?" asked Tettia as she looked at the little snake's head.

"I can sssstill keep up thissss form, Tet! Sssshut up," retorted Tora before her head disappeared beneath Ja'far's clothes once again. She was snuggly wrapped around Ja'far's neck, not too tight as to cause him discomfort, but just enough for her to be secure.

Tettia laughed at Tora, "Fine, fine. Whatever you say, Tora. Whatever you say!"

Mystras groaned and whimpered, "Macho festival…"

"Hey, stop it, Mystras! … it just brings back memories…" groaned Sinbad in disgust upon the memories.

Parsine looked at the two ragged men and said, "Umm… if you're not feeling well, we could wait until tomorrow to leave…"

"No, let's leave today," came the two perverts prompt reply.

Parsine nodded and went to retrieve the birds that would be used to take them back to the ship. The two huge birds were magnificent and Sinbad gushed in awe. "These birds will take you back to your ship. Please get on their backs," she said.

"…Looks like this is farewell to Artemyra," spoke Ja'far as he smiled. "A lot has happened since we arrived here. We climbed the side of a huge ravine… Tettia and Tora struck up a deal, which had us thrown into the Valley of Death… and we lived there for a while…"

"I had to come save you dumbasses," Tettia snuck in her two cents.

Mystras smiled as he said, "Even though we haven't been here all that long, it feels like we've spent a lot of time in this country, doesn't it?"

"It's finally time for you to leave… huh?" asked Mira. "Looks like my days of boredom will return. I'm a little reluctant to let you go," she spoke, noticing the purplenette was missing, she broke character and looked around aimlessly, "Hey? Where'd Tora go?"

"I'm right here, Mira," came Tora's voice, as she finally left Ja'far's clothes. Jumping off of his shoulder, Tora transformed back into her human form.

Mira looked just as surprised as Sinbad and Mystras looked. "What?!" she exclaimed.

Tora cracked her neck as she explained to the three, "I'm a magic user. Though I do tend to like physical fighting over magic, I am capable of using complex magic like transforming myself into a snake. In fact, it's one of my favorite things to do with my magic."

"Good for you, my child," replied Mira, nodding her head, even more impressed by the purplenette.

Ja'far looked worried as he said to the queen, "Your majesty…! You didn't need to come here _just_ to see us off… you always get angry…"

Shaking her head, Mira replied, "Don't worry. I've really come to like you guys, more than anyone from other countries I've developed friendly relations with. That's the only reason I'm here. Oh, and to say goodbye to my precious new friends — Tettia and Tora. Besides… in the future, I may entrust my beloved daughters to your care. I thought you should at least meet them. If we don't understand the condition of the world around us, we may no longer be able to protect our country. I want to create a place for them with you, so that they can broaden their experiences. …Well, that will all be far into the future, though." Two adorable little blonde girls poked their heads out from behind their mother.

"Haha, what cute little ladies," said Sinbad.

Tettia and Tora watched, containing their squeals, as four more girls appear from behind Mira. "They're cute, right? These are _all_ my daughters," said Mira.

Sinbad stared blankly, with his mouth wide open; Mystras looked as shocked as could be. "You have _really_ been blessed with children, haven't ya, Miri?!" asked Tettia as she went to pick one of Mira's _six_ daughters up.

Mira laughed at Tettia's statement before replying, "Having so many children is natural in this country. Oh… there's still one more." There was a young girl that grabbed onto Sinbad with her right hand, and holding a feather in her left hand. Mira looked at her seventh daughter and said, "That's Pisti, my youngest daughter. Despite her small size, she already possesses enough power to control our large birds. I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds for her." Sinbad knelt down to Pisti and asked if the feather in her hand was for him. "Hehe… it seems she's taken a liking to you," said Mira.

Tora laughed as Tettia was swarmed by the other remaining six daughters, being knocked to the ground. "Miri! Help me!" exclaimed the half-Fanalis. Mira laughed and told her six other daughters to stop swarming the semi-wavy haired girl.

Sinbad picked Pisti up and put the feather the young girl had given him into his hair. "That feather she gave you… it's said in out country, that it's a copt of the feathers of the Rukh. It's a lucky feather. Sinbad, may the Rukh guide you on your journey…" said the blonde queen.

Looking down at the young Pisti in his arms, Sinbad said with a huge grin, "Thank you!" He, then, handed the young girl back to her mother as he got onto a bird.

"It's been fun, Miri," spoke Tettia, hugging the blonde queen suddenly. Tora smiled brightly and hugged Mira as well, saying, "Yeah! It's been a friggin blast, Mira!" Mira laughed at the two and hugged them back the bets she could, with her child still in her arm. The duo pulled away from the hug and got onto a bird. Sinbad pulled Tettia onto the bird he was situated on, which caused her to shriek, "NO! I don't want to sit on your bird!"

Sinbad petted her head, in an attempt to calm her down. "Oh, calm down, Tet. You thought I forgot about you, didn't you?"

Crossing her arms, Tettia huffed, "Considering how you went to the fucking red-light district… hmm, lemme think… YES!"

"Yeah, I can't really come up with an excuse to skirt around that mistake," answered the purple-haired captain.

Parsine looked at them before she spoke, "You can always punish him for what he did. Show him who's boss."

Tettia looked at her and smiled deviously. An evil idea was starting to brew in her head. "Ya know, Parsine… I might just do that. Look, Sin, I forgive you — you're a pervert and I can't really get mad at you when you forget that I am here for you~" she said, smiling at the purple-haired man.

"R-really?" he asked.

The redhead nodded, "Really. I'm just going to give it to ya later~!"

Sinbad smiled almost nervously as he said, "Should I be nervous?"

"No, not really. It'll be really pleasureful for the both of us. I have to repay you for making me _happy_ back when we first arrived in Artemyra," spoke the feisty half-Fanalis with a shrug. Just the mere hint at that had Sinbad smiling wishfully.

* * *

At the Sindria Trading Company building in Napolia, located in the Reim Empire, the group finally arrived. "Seems like the Sindria Trading Company is flourishing again today, everyone," exclaimed Sinbad as he entered the building.

"President Sinbad!" exclaimed a man. "You've returned!" called a female as she clapped her hands together.

Sinbad walked in, with Ja'far and the rest following in after him. "Sorry for leaving things to you for such a long time. I'd like to check on the company's state of affairs. Is Rurumu here?"

"Rurumu is currently back in her village for the final month of her pregnancy…" someone informed their president.

"Ah… so it's that time," he said. "So, the person that took her place would be… him, right?" Walking to a room, Sinbad walked up to a man with pinkish-purple hair sitting at a desk and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Yo! Vittel!" he exclaimed. Vittel did nothing. "Huh? Vittel? Heeey…"

Vittel came to and exclaimed, "Sinbad?! We-welcome home! I'm sorry! I'm a little tired and…"

Smiling, Sinbad replied, "What are you saying? Don't apologize. You worked that hard, huh? It's my fault for leaving the company to you. It was tough, huh? Thanks, Vittel."

Vittel's dark red eyes widened and he sniffled, "…Sinbad."

Puffing out his cheeks, Sinbad handed a scroll to the young pinkish-purple haired man, saying, "By the way, please take care of this bill for me."

"What is this?" exclaimed Vittel.

Sinbad scoffed a bit, masking it with a chuckle, "What is it? I just returned, didn't I? Plus, it's my duty to properly introduce our new allies from Sasan and Artemyra, and two other allies that we met on the way to Sasan! …And make sure you come!"

* * *

"A PARTY!" everyone exclaimed as they partied.

Sinbad pointed to Mystras as he said, "Mystras of Sasan, as the son of the Knight King, he's a very skilled knight," then pointing to Parsine, he introduced, "Parsine of Artemyra, she's here as a diplomat from her home country. These two are here as representatives of their countries and as symbols of our friendship with them. They're our trading company's valued guests. Please welcome them as friends!" Sinbad then wrapped an arm around Tettia's waist, pulling her close to him and introduced her, "This is Tettia. I don't know where she is from, but we met her and her best friend, Tora, on our way to Sasan — and they are two new, strong allies with no affiliation to a country. Oh, Tora is the purplenette who is leaning on Ja'far. By the way, Mystras is looking for a great girlfriend. Parsine is… well, she can be scary if you make her angry, so please, be careful, everyone."

"Sinbad…!" the two representatives exclaimed.

With a cup in one hand, and Tettia's waist in the other, Sinbad said, "From now on… the Sindria Trading Company will continue to grow! Sasan, Artemyra, and Imuchakk… these three countries will give us our future… they are our precious and trustworthy allies. Our work and our numbers will continue to grow. But if we stick together, there's nothing we can't do. Let's make the Sindria Trading Company the best in Napolia… no, the best in all of Reim! And… let's create our own world. A world for the sake of our ideal future!"

"Yeah!" exclaimed everyone, raising their glasses up in cheers.

Tora was still leaning on Ja'far and said in a drawn out way, "Teeeeeeet~ Captain Moron is getting touchy~!"

"I-I know, Tor! Sin, let me go," said Tettia.

Sinbad kissed her forehead, refusing to let her go. "No, I refuse to let go of you, my lovely Tet," he spoke sweetly.

"I'm not yours, Sinbad," exclaimed a furiously blushing Tettia.

Smirking devilishly to himself, Sinbad whispered into her ear, "Oh yeah? I figure _twice_ in thirty minutes is grounds enough for you to be considered _my_ lovely Tet, right?"

The very mentioning of that had Tettia blushing even more furiously than she already was, it was like she was a tomato with legs. "S-sin…" she muttered, "F-fine… b-but I'm still gonna get you back for ignoring me in Artemyra!"

"And I look forward to it," he whispered to her.

Tora looked at her tomato-faced best friend and her purple-haired lover. She rolled her pinkish-red eyes and shook her head. _Yeah, I knew that bitch couldn't stay mad at King Moron. He can seduce her faster than even Babwa could,_ she thought to herself. Then she nuzzled her face against Ja'far's hair. "Your hair's so fucking soft, Killjoy~" she said.

Vittel looked at the purplenette and the young white-haired boy's interactions. Ja'far sighed, not even going to try to get the purplenette off of him. "Hey, Ja'far, why is she hanging on you like that? She's acting like your her doll or something," he said, pointing to Tora.

"Shove off, pinkie! Killjoy is fucking mine," Tora exclaimed, glaring harshly at the pinkish-purple haired, dark red-eyed man. Looking at him more carefully, Tora spoke, "Whoa, wait… might have spoken too soon! You're kinda cute."

Ja'far looked up at Tora and said, "Tora, this is Vittel. Vittel, this is Tora."

Tora held out her hand to Vittel. "Nice to fucking meet you, Vittel," she exclaimed with a huge, happy grin. Vittel shook her hand and smiled nervously at her. "Don't be afraid of me, fuck-face," she laughed and punched his shoulder as they stopped shaking hands.

* * *

Outside, a group of people approached the building. "…So this is… the Sindria Trading Company," said someone, presumably the group's leader.


	10. This is Great!

**Chapter Ten: Well isn't This just Perfect!**

 **A/N: If I hadn't stopped myself, this chapter woulda been A LOT longer!**

* * *

After sometime, Sinbad decided to get down to business. Everyone gathered around their president as they looked at the map on the floor. Tettia was laying her head on Sinbad's shoulder from behind. Looking at a map, Sinbad spoke, "Listen up, from now, we'll have Artemyra's support for our trade routes… so air transport will become necessary and indispensable. It will be especially useful for areas like Sasan that are surrounded by mountains. However, the weight we can transport will be extremely limited. Our chief means of transport will still be by boat, since the amount of goods we'll be trading will be increasing…"

Tettia looked at the map, not fully comprehending the business. Tora, however, knew what to do and said, "It seem like we'll need three times as many ships as we have now… where will we get all that money, Captain Moron?"

"We'll get a loan from the bank associated with the merchant's guild, and we can solicit help from our investors. Also, we'll collect any outstanding bills from out customers," said Ja'far.

Tora wrapped her arms around his small body, as she was sitting behind him, and leaned her head onto his once again. "Go Killjoy," she praised him.

Gasping, something finally clicked in Tettia's brain and she said, "In addition, we'll need to set up branch offices in both Sasan and Artemyra. And we will have to elect those who will be transferred to those offices."

Looking over his shoulder at her, he smiled and said, "We'll have to find another means of getting those funds… tomorrow, I'll work with our accountants to set up a year-long budget."

"Whew… we're ridiculously busy with all these things that we have to get done," said the young Ja'far. Sinbad, Hinahoho, Tettia and Tora were holding a barrel of delicious wine from Sasan, exclaiming for them to drink. Whipping his head to look angrily at the four of them and he yelled, "Hey, Sin! That alcohol is an expensive sample that we brought back from Sasan!"

Sinbad held up a snake, "This is a smoked snake from Artemyra."

"That's an expensive sample, too!" yelled Ja'far.

Tora shoved Ja'far, exclaiming, "Why are you such a fucking killjoy, Little Killjoy?!"

Vittel looked down at his cup, and someone touched him, which brought him out of his thoughts. "Wh-what is it?!" he questioned.

"We have a customer…" said a dark-haired woman.

"Huh? But the shop is closed today, isn't it?" asked Vittel.

The light-haired woman spoke, "We told him that, but… he said he absolutely must meet with President Sinbad…"

Vittel cocked his head in confusion as he said slowly, "Ooooookay? Let me go get him." After he said that, he went off to get Sinbad. "Sinbad! Some customer wants you!"

Cocking his head in confusion, Sinbad looked at the pinkish-purple haired nineteen-year-old. "Really?" he asked.

That resulted in Tora promptly punching the purple-haired president in the arm, exclaiming, "Get the fuck up off your ass, Captain Moron! It could be something pretty damn urgent!"

"Ow! Fine," said the young Sinbad as he got up. Tettia and Ja'far followed him and Vittel, which meant that Tora also was tagging along. "…A customer for me? What could they want at a time like this…" asked the golden-eyed captain.

Vittel spoke rather frankly, "Who knows? The girls seemed oddly scared and didn't tell me anything else…"

Sighing, Tettia and Tora spoke, "Oh fucking well… let's just get it the hell over with…"

"Do they always follow you around, Sinbad?" Vittel asked.

Sinbad shrugged, "You know, Vittel, we just let do their own thing. They seem to know what to do in situations, so it's not like I entirely mind their accompanying us. Anyway, Tet will probably always follow me, at least."

Tettia huffed, a faint blush on her cheeks, "That's not true, Sin…"

Snickering, Tora retorted, "It's true and don't you even try to say it's not, Tet."

"I have a sense that you two are best friends," Vittel said, pointing at the half-Fanalis and purplenette.

Smiling, the duo answered him, "Gotdamn right we are! Have been best friends for three friggin years!"

Vittel smiled and just as he was about to reply to the girls, a woman's scream pierced the air, "KYAAAA!"

Sinbad opened the door and exclaimed in worry, "What's going on?!"

The woman who had screamed was looking in horror at the _thing_ standing before her. Everyone's eyes widened, but Tettia and Tora (who knew exactly _who_ and _what_ that creature was). A tall dragon-like creature with green scales stood in the lobby of the Trading company. While Sinbad looked on with wide eyes, Ja'far looked at the creature with pensive eyes and Vittel was just concerned. "Wh-what the hell is he…?!" the trio exclaimed.

Tettia and Tora had to forcefully will themselves not to wave at the dragon and call out to him asking how he had been. "This is harder than it seems, getting our mouths shut," whispered the redhead to Tora. "Yeah… it really is… gotdammit, I just wanna tell them," Tora whispered back.

"I didn't intend to startle anyone. My hood slipped… and my face was unfortunately exposed. Then, I only wished to offer my hand to help up the young lady who had fallen over in surprise… I'm sorry," the dragon apologized. The young lady that had fallen was now standing beside Sinbad, crying like a wuss.

"Girl, stop fucking crying. He wasn't gonna hurt ya, do ya not have functioning ears? Or are you just blindly seeking Captain Moron's attention? Either way, you need to stop with your gotdamn crying… it's annoying," sneered Tora as she looked at the girl to the left of Sinbad.

Tettia snickered from behind her hand as the girl ran off, still crying. "My God, Tor, you're so cruel," she joked.

"I'm only looking out for my best friend, Tet! You know I'd fucking kill a bitch for you," winked Tora.

As Sinbad looked at the dragon, taking in his mannerisms, his golden eyes widened and asked, "…You are…?"

A woman slammed her hand on the table close to the exit of the building as she yelled, "Bringing us here without telling us… I-I won't approve of _that_ man!"

The green dragon looked over his shoulder at the woman who had spoken, saying in a loud yet small voice, "Princess!"

"That man is… that man is a _traitor_! That man is also the one who humiliated me. My bitter enemy!" exclaimed the _princess_ with anger, almost hatred seeping through her tone. "Having to appear before my enemy like this… is truly disgraceful," she exclaimed, removed her hood and continuing angrily, "I am the first princess of the Parthevia Empire, Serendine! I won't let you get away with saying you forgot about me!"

Sinbad had some flashbacks about Serendine, the thing that was different was that her light pink hair had been longer when they first met. "Y-you're…"

"Your hair looks nice cut short like that, Serendine," Tettia commented.

Tora nodded at her best friend's comment. "I agree! Your hair looks _so_ much better like that."

Serendine looked at the two and broke her angry mood, blushing, she pushed some of her light pink hair behind her ear and replied to them, "You think?"

"Absolutely! Take it from me, I wish my semi-wavy hair could look good cut that short — because I would immediately get it cut that way. My hair sometimes gets in my way when I fight, and an opponent can catch me by my long hair," spoke Tettia, running a hand through her long hair, which brought it over her shoulder to cascade down her chest and torso.

"Thank you," the princess thanked, smiling a small smile at the duo.

"You're welcome!" the duo answered, smiling.

The dragon bowed before Sinbad, saying, "Sinbad… I'm begging you… please… _please_ help us."

"Could you be… Drakon," asked the teenage Sinbad. Tettia and Tora let out a sigh of relieve and then told Drakon that he looked good, a bit roughed up, but good.

* * *

"…That really was surprising," spoke Hinahoho as he looked on from afar.

Tettia leaned forward and said, "No matter how you look at him, Drakon doesn't seem human."

Ja'far looked up at her, nodded and said, "Is he really… the same General Dragul that we knew before?"

Tora took the dishes from the young Ja'far's hands and spoke, "With those looks, it does seem impossible to believe, huh?"

With pensive eyes on Sinbad, Ja'far said, "Yeah… but Sin is…"

"…Long time no see, huh, Drakon? You sure have changed a lot, haven't you?" asked the young man.

Drakon chuckled as he said, "…You haven't changed a bit."

"Huh? Really?! I've become a much more handsome man than I was back when I was kid, right?" asked the shocked Sinbad, then he went on to point to his muscles, continuing, "Especially here, and here! Right?!"

Tapping on Sinbad's shoulder, which caused the handsome teen to look over his shoulder at her, Tettia leaned forward and leaned her head on his shoulder, speaking matter-of-factly, "Ya know, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Drakon's saying _hasn't_ changed about you, Sin."

Turning his attention back to Drakon, Sinbad asked, "Is that true?!"

Drakon sighed, "Yes. Also, who is that girl?"

"That's so cold," replied a downtrodden Sinbad. "Anyway… this is Tettia, but I and everyone else call her Tet."

The dragon-like Drakon crossed his arms and nodded in approval. "A pleasure to meet you, Tettia. If I may ask, what are you to this idiot?" he asked, referring to Sinbad when he said _idiot_.

" _Well_ , I'm not exactly a lover, but not just some random girl hanging on him," she paused, thought of something, then laughed, "I'm more of a lover-in-progress! He has to learn more about me before we can become lovers. Ain't that right, Sin?"

Sinbad looked at her and chuckled, "Yeah. There you have it, Drakon: she's my lover-in-progress."

From behind them, where Ja'far and Hinahoho were, Tora's hysteric laughter could be heard. The purplenette laughed so hard, she snorted loudly, " _Lover-in-progress_! Oh my fucking God! Tet, that is _perfect_!" Tears caused from the hysteric laughter streamed down the purplenette's face. She was having to hold onto the edge of the table as she continued laughing, Tora was also holding one of her sides.

"Was it _really_ that funny, Tora?" asked Ja'far.

"Killjoy, you don't understand! Tet is the only one who could come up with a word as fucking goofy as _lover-in-progress_ ," laughed Tora.

Serendine was not having any of this small talk, she glared at Drakon and said harshly, "…Dragul."

"It's all right… I've sent away anyone who isn't necessary to our conversation," said Sinbad.

Serendine glared at Sinbad and pointed to Tettia, hissing, "Then explain why _she_ is still here!"

Tettia threw her hands up in front of Sinbad (she had threaded her arms under Sinbad's) as she answered, "Calm down, Seren. Tor and me do what we want, and you will just have to get over it."

Sinbad spoke out, "The only people here are those of us that know you, the people you shared various experiences with, and Tora and Tet — but as Tet said, they do what they want whenever they want. Don't worry, you can speak freely here."

Drakon smiled, and said, "Thank you, Sinbad…"

"I have nothing to discuss with a man like him," sternly claimed Serendine.

"Princess!" Drakon, and the princess's two handmaidens — Saher and Tamira exclaimed.

Serendine spoke sternly once again, "That man is a traitor," she started getting angrier and angrier, "If he had pledged his loyalty to the Empire, and presented the power of the Djinn to the Emperor, then the Empire would have never fallen into the hands of Barbarossa and would still be headed for a glorious future! Instead, that man… acted on his own selfish desires, wielding that power only for himself. So now, he's become a success in Reim and is living like this…? Don't make me laugh! What you did… abandoning your country, betraying the Empire, spreading the threat of the Djinn's across the world… you're a criminal! It all turned out this way because of _you_ , Sinbad!"

Laughing curtly, Tettia interrupted the princess, "Excuse you, ma'am, but I'm going to need you to stop shooting off at the mouth. Whether Sin did or did not betray the Parthevia Empire, it doesn't matter at this point — the Empire is in the hands of a crazy psycho. He had his own dreams to achieve, which is why he didn't share his Djinn's power with the fucking Empire. Did you ever think of that?!"

"Princess, please stop. Listen to Tettia. Sinbad isn't that type of…"

"Shut up! The both of you!" yelled Serendine, "Dragul… if you ally with him… then you are my enemy as well!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Look here, missy, you can't fucking say something as stupid as that right the fuck now! Drakon brought you all the way the hell out here, to seek help from someone he knows can help! You don't have to gotdamn right," yelled Tora.

Saher bowed at them as she said, "Please excuse them, Sinbad and Tora and Tettia. Both of them are exhausted from our trip, both in mind and body. Please allow me to explain… although… I'm not sure where to start…" She began to tell Sinbad why they had been driven out of Parthevia from beginning to end.

* * *

Sinbad sat down in front of the trio across the the table, Tettia was strewn across his lap just because she could. "The premeditated murder of Parthevia's empire, a coup d'etat by General Barbarossa, one of the four chosen generals who can use a Metal Vessel…"

"I understand your story. After that, you…" Sinbad said.

Saher nodded, answering him, "Yes… after that, we fled the country to seek asylum abroad…"

Serendine laughed darkly, "Coup d'etat? You can't just sum it up in one little word. Barbarossa murdered my father… murdered the emperor. Killing the emperor to whom he pledged his allegiance and dedicated his life… that's blasphemy towards our very country. A coup d'etat… calling it something so convenient is…"

"Princess Serendine, now's not the time…" said Drakon.

The light pink haired princess fired back at Drakon with an angry, "Dragul… I still haven't give my consent! This man is…!"

Tettia looked up at Sinbad, who was looking down at her, they both shared a look before sighing out, "… you guys should get some rest."

"What are you two saying?! This is not the time for rest!" exclaimed Drakon.

Sighing out once more, Sinbad spoke, "You need to _precisely_ because this isn't the time. You haven't eaten nor slept at all lately, right? I can tell just by looking at you."

"That is exactly why you are being a crappy bitch, Seren. You are sleep-deprived and your body is begging for sleep," said Tettia as she played with her hair, looking up at Sinbad. "I mean, just look at your exhausted faces, scrawny and lifeless."

"Exactly as Tet says. You've changed _so_ much since I last saw you. I can't even imagine what terrible things you must have been through. If there's more to explain to me, it can wait. Tet, mind getting off of me?" Tettia nodded and sat up, following Sinbad as he stood up.

Serendine exclaimed angrily, "You're just planning on running away, aren't you, Sinbad?!"

Sinbad exclaimed in a sternly, "Be quiet! I'm in charge here! I suggested that you rest because I feel it's necessary based on my own judgement. My lady, if you really are someone capable of ruling others, then you should take a minute to think about those supporting you. Don't worry. This is the Sindria Trading Company, known by everyone here in Napolia. I can guarantee you will be safe here, so get some sleep."

* * *

"Captain Moron~! They've all bathed and eaten their damn fill. It seems like they've all retired to their rooms for the night," reported Tora, playing with her gold-encased ruby hanging off of her choker. "According to the girls, they practically passed out before their heads hit the pillows. They have must been extremely fucking exhausted."

Sinbad did not remove his eyes from the scroll he was examining. "…I see," he said.

"That was a rare sight, wasn't it? To hear you admonish them like that… is there something worrying you?" asked the young killjoy.

Tettia, who was sitting on the window-seal beside Sinbad, spoke, "Nah, I don't think anything's bothering Sin. I think he was just saying what he was thinking."

"My lover-in-progress is correct," said Sinbad, winking at Tettia.

"…Really?" questioned Ja'far.

Laughing, Tora interjected, "Well, that princess got herself all sorts of worked-the-fuck-up. If Captain Moron didn't say something, bitch wouldn't've understood."

Sighing, Ja'far said, "Well… I guess that's true."

A knock came upon the door, and a woman said, "Excuse me. I've brought one of your guests to see you."

Tettia and Sinbad looked at the door in confusion. "Hm? This late at night? … Come in," said the president of the company. The door opened and Saher entered the room. "Saher?!" exclaimed Tora.

"Sinbad, I'm that Princess Serendine was so rude to you earlier… even though this has nothing to do with you, you have shown us such compassion. I'm very grateful," said the black-haired woman.

Tora, walking up behind Ja'far to wrap her arms around his shoulders and resting her head on his shoulder, said, "There's no need for that, girl. Please, for the love of all that is healthy, go get some friggin rest."

Saher shook her head, answering, "No. About our conversation earlier… what happened to us when we left the Imperial City… and how we came to be in this situation… I still haven't told you everything you need to know. By hiding us here, you might get dragged into all this. Once you understand the entire situation, I want you to form your own judgements. I'm telling you this as your elder… and as my atonement for not being able to do nothing for either Princess Serendine or Lord Dragul. Somehow… I want you to forgive Princess Serendine. Please understand… how sorrowful our life on the run has been. And the heartbreak of Lord Dragul's circumstances. All the things of this past year…" The five looked at her as she began the tale of the events of the previous year.

* * *

Coming to the end of her tale, Saher continued, "Like that, we entered Reim and moved from town to town, heading for a port. Princess Serendine and two of us entered towns along the way to gather information, while Lord Dragul concealed himself in the outskirts of each town. From then on, other than the times we met to share food with Lord Dragul, we rarely saw each other… I still don't know… if that was the right thing to do."

Tettia sighed and combed her fingers through her hair. "Wow… that's quite the tale you told. And… that sucks for poor Drakon. God, I just hate people sometimes!"

"Agreed! How dare people say they wanna kill our precious Drakon! I'll fucking kill them!" exclaimed Tora. Both of them had grown close to Drakon in their present, and it still broke their hearts that people would treat someone so badly just because they were different. It was something disgusting that humans seem to naturally and instinctually did.

Ja'far sighed and crossed his arms, looking up at Tora (who was still latched onto him), "Thinking realistically, you both, there is no way Lord Drakon could just _walk_ around a community."

Sighing, Tettia, Tora and Hinahoho said, "You weren't mistaken… however…"

 _Drakon…_ Sinbad thought to himself, staring at the table. Tettia touched his hand and smiled at him. He looked over at her and smiled a small smile, silently thanking her for her small gesture of sympathy. In response, Tettia leaned against him, silently saying _you're welcome, Sin_ just with her body language.

The door opened loudly and someone walked in, saying, "…Lady Saher, that's enough."

"Lord Drakon!" exclaimed Ja'far.

Saher looked over at him as she asked in a broken, confused voice, "Wh-why are you here…?!"

"I can no longer feel at ease around so many people. I was unable to sleep… however, I certainly didn't intend to make you responsible for saying all of this…" spoke Drakon as he sat down beside the dark-haired woman. "I'll tell you the rest myself. Do you still wish to hear it, Sinbad?"

Sinbad looked at his friend, saying with a nod, "Yeah, of course."

Sighing, Drakon began his tale, "During the times that we were separated, I had nothing to do but wait… day after day… I looked at the bright, far-away town below… always waiting. I relied on the food brought to me but, at times, I also attacked passing caravans. Because I look like this, they all assumed a new type of monster had appeared and just ran away. I always feared that rumors would eventually make their way back to town. I didn't want to cause any trouble for the princess and the others staying there… despite that… I still felt that what I was doing was better than going into town myself. Over six months passed since we fled Parthevia. We were completely out of the Reim Empire… because…" The dragon-like Drakon continued his story, telling the group of how Serendine had cut her once long, unusually colored hair to sell.

Drakon also told them of how the princess basically had a mental come-apart after selling her hair for the money of which they bought food with, saying how she cried as spoke of someone walking up to her asking her to sell her body. Tettia and Tora grimaced, that was truly upsetting — for someone of such high birth even be asked that, must have been entirely embarrassing and degrading. "Wow… she really fucking _did_ brake mentally… I couldn't handle living like that… but then again, I can steal food without getting my ass caught," said Tora.

"I agree, she compared her then lifestyle to that of a whore. I would literally rather cut off and sell my hair a _million_ times over before I _ever_ resorted to prostitution. I applaud her for having the self-respect to not do that. No matter how poor you guys were, she refused to sell her body. Most people in your position would have taken up prostitution, I believe regardless of their previous royal or noble status — especially in an _'If I don't do this, we all starve'_ situation," said Tettia.

"Yes, I agree with you both. However, then she started cursing Sinbad by saying that if he had pledged his loyalty to the country in the first place, then the emperor would not have been murdered and Parthevia would have still been heading for greatness. Princess Serendine called you, Sinbad, _our country's bitter enemy_ and proclaimed that you changed everything," continued Drakon.

Scoffing, Tettia said as she twirled a lock of hair around her finger, "Look, I like her and all… and don't much mind her despite all her flaws, but she's gonna have to stop with that whole _'Sinbad is my bitter enemy, I refuse to cooperate with him, blah, blah, blah; Sinbad is terrible; I hate him'_ bullshit is gonna have to come to an end."

Sighing, Drakon said, "It's my fault, Lady Tettia. During our time as fugitives, I kept encouraging Princess Serendine to fulfill her obligations as a member of the royal family. Under those circumstances, perhaps the only way she could endure was to direct all her resentment towards you, Sinbad… in the cargo of one of the caravans, I saw the book you wrote… for me, who had no one left to rely on… it seemed like fate. I didn't care from it took… I only hoped for your assistance, but… as you saw earlier, Princess Serendine is consumed by rage towards you. I secretly consumed with Lady Saher, and she encouraged me to bring everyone here. Of course, it seems like the Princess figured it out when she saw the name _Sindria Trading Company_ … and she lost her composure upon realizing she had been tricked into coming here…"

Sinbad laughed weakly as he said, "I think I understand now… so that's what happened, huh?"

"I, too… someone from the Imperial Palace, was resistant to the idea of relying on a person who betrayed our empire… but… it was impossible to continued our travels any further. Both physically and mentally. This is… the truth of our past year," spoke Saher.

Tora felt like someone was listening in on the whole conversation; turning her gaze towards Tettia, the two caught each other's eyes. _I think that Seren has been listening in this whole gotdamn time, Tet_ , the purplenette's pinkish-red eyes said. _I know, I know, I heard her breathing the whole time,_ answered the redhead's crimson orbs.

"Also, Sinbad… there is something I wish to ask of you. It's about Princess Serendine… she's only repeated what is convenient for her… she feels great animosity towards you as a member of the Parthevian royal family which you turned your back on… however, I am unable to protect Princess Serendine or make her happy. And if I cannot do so in this grotesque form, then I want to leave it to someone greater than I… I want you to protect her. There's no one else I can ask… I want to entrust Princess Serendine… to you, Sinbad. That is my wish," said Drakon. Everyone looked at the dragon-like Drakon bowed to Sinbad. "…I beg you."

Sinbad looked at Drakon with his golden orbs. Tettia looked at Sinbad, then darted her eyes to Drakon, then back at Sinbad, waiting for the purple-haired man's answer. "No," he said simply.

"Sin!" exclaimed Tettia as she fell out of the bench in surprise. Tora, though shocked, laughed at her best friend falling over.

Standing up and slapping his hand on the table, Sinbad spoke, "I'm sorry for all you've been through, but she's an important person you have risked your life to protect, isn't she?! _You_ should be the one to protect her, until the very end!"

"But, think about what we told you… I'm just a monster that can't do anything…"

"WRONG!" exclaimed Tettia, springing up off of the floor, also slapping her hands down onto the table. "You're no monster, Drakon!" Her sudden words caused Drakon's eyes to widen in disbelief, why did she say that? Surely Tettia did not believe that he was not a monster.

Sinbad nodded at her proclamation. "You haven't changed at all. Aren't you the _exact_ same Drakon I used to know?" he said, reaching across the table, to put his hands on Drakon's shoulders, continuing, "You're human. A human who sheds tears out of worry, pain, and loneliness. There is no reason for you to give up… if you need strength to keep going, I'll lend you as much as you need! Because, after all… you're my precious friend."

 _Sinbad… after taking on this appearance… I intended to throw away my life as a human… I thought I would never be human again. I had resigned myself to spending the rest of my life as a monster… but you… you extended your hand to me…_ thought a crying Drakon. "Thank you…" he thanked in a sniffly voice, "I'm glad I met you… thank you, Sinbad…"

Tettia laughed, "I'm glad I met him, too, Drakon. He's changed my life, in many ways." Serendine's pitter-pattering footsteps retreated from the door, and Tettia's heightened hearing heard this; the half-Fanalis' heart clenched for the princess. Poor princess had been through so much in the last year and Tettia was sure that hearing that conversation had not helped her, in fact, it probably made her feel worse.

* * *

Some time later, Drakon and Saher got up to leave. "Sinbad… we are grateful that you listened to our story and sheltered us here. If there is anything we can do in return, please name it. We'll lend all our strength to you," said Drakon.

Looking up at him, Sinbad nodded and answered, "Of course. You're part of my company now. I'll be counting on you."

Drakon looked at Sinbad and spoke, "… Sinbad, there's one last thing… I debated whether or not I should tell you, but… it's probably for the best if you know about my appearance. This strange form I've take is a result of the power of the Household of your Djinn, Baal."

Golden eyes widened in alarm, confusion and shock as Sinbad stuttered out, "W-wha…?!"

"I became part of your Household in Valefor's Dungeon. No, more accurately, I had a Metal Vessel in which the Household chose to reside. In Parthevia, I invoked the power of that Household Vessel. Then, the Household and I were combined into one being. The Household, which is now a part of me, explained all of this to me. The Household Vessel uses the experience and strength of the will of its user as a starting point, and then advances towards assimilation with the Household. This was the solution I was presented with while on the verge of death. _'To sacrifice my body'_ … that was the pledge I made to the spirit of the Household. In order to be assimilated by the Household, I sacrificed my human body… that's how I came to assume my current form." Sinbad looked on with wide eyes. "If there are other Household Vessel users besides me, be careful. Unless you want to end up like me…"

Ja'far, who was standing away from them, clenched his clothes over his heart. His mouth was slightly agape and his eyes were widened and seemed lifeless yet worried for his own human-self. Tora noticed this and ruffled his hair, saying to him, "Don't worry, Killjoy… nothing like that will happen. It only happened to Drakon because he was on the verge of death in his human body. I bet his human body was in too bad of shape to bounce back from the edge of death, so in order to come back from death and protect those who needed protecting, the Household spirit offered him that as a way to come back." Ja'far looked up at her, the worried expression still ever present, but had diminished slightly at her words.

"…Wait a minute, Drakon… so, it's _my_ fault you look like that…?" asked Sinbad in a worried tone.

Shaking his head side-to-side, Drakon answered, "Don't be conceited. This is something I _chose_. It's nothing you should feel responsible for! Even without knowing the truth behind it, you were willing to take us in… that's more than enough for me, Sinbad."

Opening his mouth to say something, Sinbad instead sighed and spoke in a certain tone, "…Okay. Then, I too, will follow the path I chose… the same path that you were walking along with all the responsibilities you've shouldered. Let's look after each other from now on, Drakon…" He and Drakon shook hands, then the dragon-like man and Saher took their leave.

The young Ja'far looked, with his ever-still lifeless eyes, at his very own weapon, wondering if what happened to Drakon would happen to him. Tora, once again, noticed this and ruffled his hair more violently than before, telling him not to worry about it — that she would never allow him to be put in a life-or-death situation.

Once they left, Hinahoho spoke up, "Sin, do you _really_ intend to put your trust in Drakon and that princess? That girl bears a grudge against you. It's completely unjustified, and I simply cannot accept it."

Sitting on the window ledge, beside Sinbad once again, Tettia raised her hand in agreement. "I agree with Hina! Seren's grudge against you is complete bullshit and, while I find her easy to be around as of now, I can't accept that it's valid in her eyes."

With his arms crossed, Ja'far spoke, "Frankly… I object. The Sindria Trading Company has only just gotten on the right track. Our whole future lies ahead of us… I understand how you feel, but their existence will cause a disturbance to those around them. If you intend to shelter them, you should do it somewhere else."

"For example, we could see if we can send them to one of our allied countries as guests…" spoke Hinahoho and Tettia.

Sinbad smiled and said, "Yeah. I'll hire them all here at the company."

Nodding, Ja'far said, "Uh huh. Yes, that's good — HUH?!"

"Ja'far… the Sindria Trading Company has really grown, huh?" asked the president of the company.

"Yes, well… we've become a prominent company here in Napolia, but…"

"… I believe that it's all because of the people we have encountered up until now. If one person was missing, it wouldn't have worked. It's because our friends and allies that we've made it this far. But beyond that, I can feel this power around us, like it's some sort of current…" said Sinbad. Tettia laughed and leaned back, almost falling out of the window had Sinbad not snatched her by her waist and pulled her back. "Okay, Tet, with that, I take away your privilege to sit on the window ledge," he said with a grin.

"The fuck you will! I thought there was a wall close to me," retorted the redhead.

Clapping her hands together, Tora got everyone's attention with a loud screech. Once everyone's eyes were one her, she said with huge grin, "Okay everyone, time for bed! I'm fucking tired and I'm ready to cuddle me a Killjoy!"

"What makes you think you're sleeping in my room, Tora?!" asked an annoyed Ja'far.

Tora looked at him with a dangerous smile as she answered, "Because, Killjoy, ya know I'm gonna fucking do it anyways. Therefore, it's fucking best if I just sleep in your gotdamn room. Got a problem with that?"

"Oh shit! Well, I mean, it's not like there are anymore rooms here, Jaffy. Drakon and the girls took the last rooms, aye?" spoke Tettia.

Soon, Ja'far groaned and said, "Fuck it! Do what you want, Tora!" Everyone laughed at his frustrated exclamation.

Tettia yawned and threw one of her arms into the air as she stretched. "Welp, I'm tired~ Sin, can we go to bed now?" Sinbad smiled, rolled his eyes and everyone went to their own rooms for a night of sleep.

* * *

The next day, Serendine and Tamira were walking down the hallway when they came across Sinbad and Tettia. "Good morning, Lord Sinbad!" exclaimed Tamira.

Sinbad and Tettia gave each other a look and then promptly waved at the two, saying, "Did you sleep well, young lady?"

Bowing, Tamira spoke in a quick jumble of words, "I, Tamira, wish to thank you for granting us food and lodging…!"

Chuckling, Sinbad replied, "No need to speak of last night, because I'm going to let you stay as long as you like."

"Huh?! What do you mean…?!" she asked.

Tettia smiled at Tamira and said sweetly, "Just ask Drakon~"

Tamira then looked behind her at Saher and Drakon. Sinbad and Tettia then looked at Serendine, who looked away before sighing. She casted her head downwards and walked off. "Well then… that was… _different_ …" whispered Tettia to Sinbad. Nodding, Sinbad agreed. That was when the two of them heard a lot of noise coming from the front of the building. "Wanna go see what's going on out there?" she asked, knowing he would say yes.

"Yeah, might as well," came his answer. Tettia smiled and followed after the purple-haired man as they walked to the front. The scene they saw when they entered the room was one of guards taking stuff. The duo's eyes widened and they looked at each other. "What did you do," whispered Tettia. "Nothing… that I can recall," answered Sinbad.

Ja'far bursted in front the two, exclaiming, "Police officers… why are they here?!"

Jokingly, Tora hid behind Ja'far, saying, "Oh fuck! The bastards caught up to me! Tet, I warned you they would!"

Realizing that she was joking, Tettia went along with it, "Shit! Tor, you gotta hide!"

Believing the two were being serious, Ja'far and Sinbad looked at them with wide eyes. "What did you do, T—?!"

Tora covered their mouths, telling them to shush. "Don't ask questions! Tet, hand me the biggest layer of your skirt! I need a mask!" Tettia rolled her eyes, removed the largest layer of her multi-layered skirt and handed it to Tora. Immediately, the purplenette covered her hair and a large portion of her face, leaving only her eyes to be seen. "Masking complete!"

"Why, you ask? What are you saying, after repeatedly ignoring our notices?! We've finally caught you!" exclaimed a guard. "Building such a hug company… there had to be something fishy going on… and anyway, we thought you were suspicious from the very beginning. After all, you are the ones who set up an unauthorized street stall and made money telling stories. We haven't forgotten any of that! Hahaha!" exclaimed another guard.

Ja'far stared at them with a blank expression, "Ah, the guys from back then. Tora, you liar. Huh… but, what sort of notice are you talking about? I don't recall seeing anything like that…"

Laughing, Tora returned Tettia's layer to her, which she immediately put back. "You're the dumbass who believed, Killjoy."

The two guards sputtered, "How can you say that?! In spite of the fact that the Sindria Trading Company has accumulated a huge of debt, you have yet to repay even a _single_ coin, and the deadline is _today_!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" exclaimed Ja'far and Tora, the latter falling over.

The guards sighed, "It's true. So we've come here today to seize your company in compensation for the loans you defaulted on. It's your own fault for not paying anything despite receiving countless notices!"

"W-wait! I don't remember any loans!" exclaimed Sinbad.

"That's right! There must be some sort of mistake," said Ja'far.

"I have a contract," said the short, stumpy guard in a snarky attitude as he held up a contract.

Snatching the contract from the guards, Tettia glared a glare so dangerous that could kill (if looks could kill) at the two guards. Walking back over to Sinbad, the redhead handed the contract to Ja'far. They all looked at the contract. "He… he's right! And that looks like our seal. Who could have done this…?" asked Ja'far out loud.

Vittel was sitting in a corner, far away from everyone, chittering to himself. Sinbad and everyone looked over at him. "It's over… I've been found out by Sinbad and everyone else… I'm finished… what will that cute purplenette think of me now…" Vittel muttered to himself.

With his jaw-dropped, Sinbad stuttered out, "…it can't be… Vittel, it was you?!"

Tora gasped and looked at Vittel with her mouth covered. "Duuuuuuuuude…" she said in a drawn out manner.

"WAAAAAAAH! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! It's all my fault. I'm sorryyy! WAAAAAAAAAAH!" cried Vittel hysterically.

Almost immediately, Tora was patting his back in a comforting way. "Whoa, calm down, Vittel. Don't blow a gasket on us, okay?" she asked with a gentle smile and surprisingly with no profanity.

"What in the world happened?" asked Hinahoho and Tettia.

Ja'far looked at the pinkish-purple haired man and said in a low, almost threatening way, "Vittel, explain how you racked up such a large debt. _Right now_."

"Hey, hey. Calm down, Killjoy. No need to threaten poor Vittel," counter Tora with her own brand of venom in her tone.

Vittel looked at Tora, amazed at the venom in her voice. He then looked at Ja'far and nodded. "… okay. The truth is… after you all sailed for Sasan…due to a number of accidents at sea, our company's trade deficit began to rise. I reworked our budget, cut down on unnecessary expenses, and did everything I could think of to get us out of debt… but no matter what I did, it didn't go well. That was when… that woman appeared, saying _'If you've lost something, you just need to replace it.'_ She was the head of a prominent company, distinguished even in the capital of Remano, and because our efforts to raise money, she came to us with an _investment opportunity_ ," he began his tale. Tora was still rubbing his back, trying to keep him calm. "She introduced us to goods from an emerging nation… goods that would be a valuable investment… she said they'd definitely be profitable! On top of that, we didn't have to pay cash for them, and were told that it would be an exchange of good faith between us… so I made up my mind and requested goods worth more than our company's assets!"

"Sounds like a bad idea, Vit," said Tettia.

Vittel rubbed the back of his head as he continued, "I thought that nothing could go wrong, but… while I looked on in horror… the value of the goods we invested in dropped… and it's stayed that way ever since… and now we're left with a debt more than ten times what those goods are worth… but _please_ forgive me! I thought I was doing right by our company. I never imagine it would turn out like this…!"

Ja'far took out his weapon and threw one at Vittel, hitting the wall right by the left side of his head. Vittel shook in fear as he looked at the weapon. "…Investment? Debt? Just what the _hell_ did you go and do, ya bastard…!? _It was for the company_? Ain't got nothin' to do with that… the problem is, how're we gonna pay off this debt? A bastard like you… should pay with his life, shouldn't he?!" Ja'far exclaimed in a dangerous voice, like he was a completely different person. Not to mention he was brandishing his weapons.

Tettia and Tora looked at the young killjoy, surprised by this dark side. That was when they remembered that Ja'far _had_ been an assassin sent to capture Sinbad back in the day, during the duo's present. _Never mind, that explains his attitude. But fucking shit, man, that's such a drastic change from the change in attitude that Tor and me are used to_ , thought Tettia to herself.

"I'll kill you, dammit!" yelled Ja'far as he threw his arms into the air.

Vittel shook and cried out in fear. Sinbad spoke, hesitantly, "Ja'far! Ca-calm down… you've gone back to your old habits!"

Ja'far growled at Sinbad, "Shut it! I ain't about to let some small fry order me around!"

Tora pulled Vittel close to her, in order to avoid death by the angry killjoy. "Nope. I don't think so, Mister Killjoy. Not today. No killing. Bad," said Tora, continuously moving Vittel from Ja'far aim. "Hina, can you please restrain that gotdamn Killjoy?" Hinahoho nodded and grabbed Ja'far. Tora stopped manhandling Vittel, sat down on the ground, and asked him, "Are ya okay, Vittel?"

"…Yes…" came his answer.

Sinbad kneeled beside them and said to Vittel, "Why didn't you tell us all this sooner? If only you had…"

Blood red eyes looked up at Sinbad. "…I couldn't tell you… I saw how much fun you were having, and I just couldn't say anything… Sinbad… I'm sorry…" cried the pinkish-purple haired man.

"Me too… I'm sorry I didn't notice the situation you were in…" Sinbad also apologized.

Tettia came up behind Sinbad and leaned over him, to nuzzle his cheek, quietly saying, "It really is your fault, Sin~ You're so unobservant~"

Sinbad looked over at her as he retorted, "I'm observant enough to notice certain things, thank you very much!"

Being uncharacteristically nice, Tora played with Vittel's hair, trying to stop his apologizing. "Don't fucking worry about it, Vittel. It's in the past, there's nothing you can do now to change the past," she said. "Anyway, Captain Moron, we must disclaim this as quickly as fucking possible. Vittel, can you show us all the documents concerning your investment and all the goods you exchanged?"

Looking up at her in awe, Vittel blushed slightly as he nodded. "Y-yeah. I can. Follow me," he said, getting up from the floor and walking to the records.

As everyone followed him to the records, Tettia grabbed her best friend by the shoulder and kept her in the room. Once Sinbad and the other three males were out of sight, she whisper-yelled, "You like Vit~!"

Looking over at the redhead, Tora cocked her eyebrows in confusion as she replied, "What the fuck are you spouting, Tet?"

Grinning like a madwoman, Tettia spoke again, "I said that you like Vit! Why else wouldn't you use profanity while trying to calm someone down?! I only ever knew you to do that with Mas! _Gasp_ , is Vit the guy you liked before Mas?!"

Shoving her friend's hand off her shoulder, Tora clarified in a low voice, "God no! Back during my first gotdamn go-round with King Moron, way back when, I joined up with him when I was fucking _three_ and he was fourteen after he saved my life. Vittel was _fourteen_ years older than me, so _no_ , Tet, I did _not_ like him before Massy. There was nobody _my age_ who I could like. The only person I _coulda_ fucking liked before Massy was Killjoy, who was still a _good_ seven or eight years older than me. I was the youngest member of the Sindria Trading Company, kicking ass from the tender age of five."

"But you like Vit this go-round~ don't'cha~?" asked Tettia.

Tora rolled her pinkish-red eyes. "I mean, he's cute, I won't fucking lie. But, Tet, fucker gets married at some point. I vaguely remember his wife. _PLUS_ , I still want Massy…"

Now it was Tettia turn to roll her eyes. With a sigh, she pointed out, "But you _can't have_ Masrur, Tor. You're too old for him with your current age. Not to mention there's no spell that can revert your age to be closer to Mas in age. How old was he when you first met him again?"

"Seven. He was seven and I was five," came her crisp answer.

"Uh-huh… well, you're twenty years old and he's about seven right now. That's a pretty big age difference, Tor. I see no possible way that you can regress your age to be closer to his age, without the others wondering what the hell you're doing. You're gonna have to move on…"

Tora growled, "Fuck you! I will do what I want! And I'll have you know that there's a fucking spell for anything! I want my gotdamn husband, Tet, and that's who I'm gonna fucking end up with! Nobody else, you hear me?! I can revert my age right now!"

Scoffing, Tettia did not believe her purplenette friend. "Oh yeah? Ya can, can ya? And can you revert yourself back to being twenty? Or will you be stuck being whatever younger age… just _like we're stuck here, in this time, with no way to get back home_?!"

Gasping, Tora huffed, "Oh! _Bitch_! You did _not_ just go there! The only reason we can't go the fuck back is because I don't know what I fucking did to get us here in the gotdamn first place! Plus, it's not like _you_ have much to live for back there! Your precious Alibaba is _dead_!"

"You know that's wrong! I still had Laddin, Tor! He was, no, he _is_ my best friend — the first _best friend_ I ever had. You _know_ how much he means to me, so don't you _ever_ say I have no reason to live there: I wanted to live for Laddin!" exclaimed Tettia. At that point of the conversation, the duo had gone from quiet whispers to rather loud bickering.

"Ughhhh! Ya know what, fuck this! Fuck you, I'm turning eleven! Just to prove a gotdamn point!" shouted Tora. Chanting a magic incantation, a poof of smoke surrounded the purplenette. When the smoke cleared, there stood Tora, as an eleven-year-old. Her once shoulder-length purple hair had grown to come to her chest, which was nearly flat compared to her twenty-year-old self's chest. "Yeah, fuck you, Tet! Didn't think I was fucking serious, did ya?!"

Tettia looked down at her best friend with wide eyes. "Oh! So you can fucking turn yourself into your eleven-year-old self, consider me impressed," she said.

Crossing her arms, little Tora snickered, "Gotdamn right I did. Serves you right for thinking I couldn't do it."

Ja'far popped his head into the room and saw Tora's appearance. The only reason he knew it was Tora was because of the unmistakeable look and aura Tora gave off. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I'm not even going to ask why Tora looks like that. You both missed out on what we were doing for a petty argument, _really_? Anyway, Sin went to find the woman who sold Vittel the goods, that went down in price. By the way, it was only those goods Vittel bought that saw such a rapid decrease in price — meaning that that woman purposely did that so our Company would shut down."

"That's just peachy, ain't it, Killjoy?" asked the now young Tora.

Rubbing the back of her neck, Tettia said, "Yeah… it's best that you don't ask, Jaffy. For your information, it wasn't a fucking _petty_ argument, it wasn't even an argument. Just a heated talk between best friends. Also, god that sounds fucking terrible. I know Sin will get things back to normal in no time flat."

Ja'far crossed his arms and looked at Tettia. "Yeah, it really is," he said, then he looked at Tora, "so, is this a permanent thing? I assume you're a magician, Tora."

Tora laughed. "I can make it a permanent thing, if ya want, Killjoy~" she teased him with a wink. "But, no, I can go back to being twenty whenever in the fuck I damn-well please. And yes, I'm a magician… who really prefers to use physical force over actual magic usage. Thought I explained this already?"

The purplenette's teasing had Ja'far blushing slight, almost uncharacteristically. "It's y-you're decision…" he said.

"Awwww! Blushing Jaffy is adorable!" gushed Tettia.

Tora looked at Ja'far, noticed his blush, and smiled deviously. "So~ with that fucking blush on your face, I can tell that you want me to stay this age~" she continued to tease. The blush did not leave the young Ja'far's face, oh Tora was going to enjoy this. The purplenette knew that she would probably stay eleven for a little bit.

Vittel walked into the room and gaped at the young Tora. "W-wasn't she older?!" he asked hysterically, clearly confused.

Looking back at him, Tettia answered him, "Oh yeah. Mentally, she's still twenty. But, physically, Tor transformed herself into an eleven-year-old… just to prove a point to me, Vit."

Pointing to myself, Vittel asked, "Am I _Vit_?"

"Aye, you're Vit, Vittel," said Tettia. "Hope ya don't mind me calling ya that."

Vittel smiled and answered, "I'm okay with that… Tettia, right?"

"Oh _puh-lease_ , call me Tet, Vit," said Tettia.

"Okay, Tet," answered Vittel, smiling at her.

Meanwhile, Tora was still teasing Ja'far, talking about how much she could not wait to cuddle with him later that day. The constant teasing had Ja'far storming off from the room, the young Tora following after him, still teasing him. Tettia and Vittel watched them as they stormed through the building. "Well then… that's going to be happening all day. Now that she's found what gets to Jaffy, she won't let up for a while. Promise you that she will still be hanging off of Jaffy, though," said Tettia.

"I'm just going to believe you on that one, Tet. I don't know you or Tora very well," said Vittel.

Placing a hand on the pinkish-purple haired man's shoulder, Tettia smiled at him. "You will get to know us, Vit."

"Yeah!" exclaimed a smiling Vittel.


	11. Adventure!

**Chapter Eleven: MARINA?! And Adventure to Ria Venus Island**

 **A/N: ENTER A YOUNG MARINA! And Zuko, and Mayumi…**

* * *

Tettia sighed, bored of waiting for Sinbad's return, "Tor! I'm booooored!" She was laying on the ground, her crimson hair splayed out as she looked blankly up at the ceiling.

Snapping her pinkish-red gaze at her best friend, the eleven-year-old Tora growled, "And? The fuck do you want me to do? You know I use my magic for myself _and only_ myself, Tet."

Groaning, Tettia answered, "You don't have to get snappy with me, you bitch." After that, the half-Fanalis sat up and looked at her best friend, then groaned once again, "God, I wish we went with Sin… to _wherever_ he went."

"Remano. He went to Remano, the capital of the Reim Empire," came Ja'far's crisp answer, "to deal with our debt."

"AAAAAAAHH! But, I still am bored here," said Tettia. That was when a Fanalis female and blue-haired boy walked into the building. Blinking slowly, the two became familiar to the half-Fanalis. Quickly, she grabbed her purplenette best friend, pulled her to the side and said to her, "Are those two Zuko and Mayumi?"

Tora looked back at them, they did have a striking resemblance to the two aforementioned people from their present. "They sure do fucking look like it, maybe we should go and I dunno, ask?" she said in a smart-ass tone.

Rolling her eyes, Tettia let her best friend go. "Are you ever not a smart-ass?!"

"Nope! Anyways, go fucking ask, you bitch," said the young Tora, as she shoved Tettia towards the two individuals.

Tettia was forcefully shoved towards the two. Ja'far was looking at the young Tora as she pushed the older half-Fanalis. "Hey you two! What are you doing in here? You probably shouldn't be here. The company is having a difficult time right now," she said to the two younger versions of people she knew.

The blue-haired boy looked at the older half-Fanalis and said, "Oh, we're sorry. We aren't looking to conduct business here or anything. We are just looking for a place to hide from the wrath of one of our friends."

Tora bounded up to stand beside Tettia and said, "What are you two named?"

"Oh! My name is Zuko," the blue-haired boy introduced himself.

"I'm Mayumi. Nice to meet you, now can we please hide here for a while?" the Fanalis woman introduced herself.

Just as Tettia opened her mouth to say something, a familiar voice — albeit higher pitched — screamed, "ZUZU! YUMI-CHUMI! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Tettia and Tora whipped their heads around to look at the golden-haired, younger version of Marina stood in the door. " _Oh fuck_ ," they said in unison. Even as an eleven or twelve-year-old, Marina was terrifying.

"Marina, have mercy! We didn't mean to," Zuko spoke calmly, though slightly flinching at the harshness of her scream.

Tora looked at Zuko and Mayumi with wide eyes. "What did you two fucking idiots do?!" the purplenette scream-questioned.

"Yeah! Why is Marina pissed at you two?" asked Tettia, crossing her arms over her chest.

Marina's angry stomping echoed throughout the building as she marched towards the duo. Zuko and Mayumi were reduced to shivering in fear, holding each other and praying that they were not killed. "W-we destroyed her candy stash while we were fighting on our ship…" answered the Fanalis. "We accidentally threw it overboard when we were throwing stuff at one another," said the shaggy blue-haired fifteen-year-old.

Ja'far crossed his arms over his chest, much like Tettia had. "That does not seem like a problem that we have to deal with. We are having problems of our own, anyways," he hissed dangerously.

Tora smacked the white-haired killjoy's arm very hard, which caused him to yelp in pain. "Killjoy! Excuse you!" she exclaimed, the white-haired boy rolled his eyes and grumbled something to himself. Rolling her eyes at Ja'far, the purplenette cast her pinkish-red gaze at the two in front of her, "Don't worry, we won't let you two die."

"Zuzu~ Yumi-chumi~! There you two are~!" Marina said in a dangerously bittersweet voice. She was cracking her knuckles as she neared them.

Tettia and Tora stepped in front of Marina, their hands out in front of them, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down, Marina. There is no reason to cause severe harm to these two," spoke Tettia. "Yeah! Even though they both _totally_ fucking deserve it! We can't let you do that," said Tora.

Stopping in her tracks, Marina looked at the two. Cocking her head to the side, she asked, "And why not? Last time I checked, this was between us three… not us _five_."

"Well, be that as it may, we cannot just stand here and watch you murder people in our building. That would just cause more problems that are not even needed right now; we are having plenty of issues at this time. Let us talk about this like _rational_ people, eh?" spoke Tettia, "How about they get you more candy? Would that solve the problem?"

"Yeah! Would that quell your fucking need for blood, Marina?" asked the physically young purplenette.

The golden-haired captain looked at the _young_ purplenette and spoke, "I don't think a girl as young as you should be using that kind of language."

Rolling her eyes, Tora answered, "Fuck off, Marina. I'm not actually eleven, I am twenty-fucking-years-old! I just so happen to be a very powerful magician, I turned eleven to prove a point to _this_ ," she pointed to Tettia, "dumb bitch. Futhermore, I have been cussing since I was THREE! So, bitch, _puh-lease_!"

"You're a magician capable of age manipulation?" asked Marina.

Tora rolled her eyes and undid the magic casted on herself. She reverted back to her twenty-year-old self, her chest-length hair reverted back to her normal shoulder-length; her flat chest swelled to her normal breast size. "I think _this_ speaks for its-fucking-self, yeah?" Tora said, her voice sounding more mature to match with her age.

The golden-haired captain's purple eyes twinkled as she exclaimed, "Oh my God! You _really are_ twenty! You are a wonderful magician, Miss!"

Waving her hand in front of her face dismissively, Tora spoke, "Just call me _Tor_. Now, can I go back to being eleven?" Marina nodded, having her fill of looking at the twenty-year-old Tora. Casting her magic upon herself one more time, Tora reverted back into her eleven-year-old self.

Tettia laughed, "Now that that is taken care of, what do you think, Marina? Zuko and Mayumi replace the candy they threw into the sea… and you don't kill them?"

"Yeah, sure, I can deal with that, Miss. But they need to get to work, that was several months of candy they threw overboard. If it wasn't—"

"Please, call me _Tet_ , Marina," interrupted Tettia.

"Okay. Tor and Tet. Anyways," Marina narrowed her eyes at the duo hiding behind the half-Fanalis and _young_ purplenette, "they need to get on it, because if it weren't for you two, I would be leaving them here."

Zuko and Mayumi shivered as they answered, "Yes ma'am! We will get right on it!"

They started to bolt for the door, but Tettia and Tora caught them, "Not yet. For now, you three can spend some time with us."

"O-okay…" the trio said, curious.

* * *

Sinbad had returned from Remano, everyone was outside to hear the news. If he had settled the company's debt or not. "I spoke with the Mariadel Company. As of today, all of the Sindria Trading Company's debts have been taken care of. Everyone, please return to your normal duties," he announced to the whole company.

"…So, that means we can all continue to work for this company?" asked someone.

Nodding, the purple-haired merchant answered, "Yep."

Everyone cheered and from a distance, Vittel was crying tears of joy, "So that means… the company wasn't ruined because of me! _Yay_! That's great!"

Hinahoho picked up the pinkish-purple haired man and said, in a chastising tone, "Show _some_ regret." Hanging his head in shame, Vittel muttered, "Y-yes…" That caused everyone to laugh out loud. Tettia and Tora had introduced Marina, Zuko, Mayumi to the young Sinbad. Everyone returned to their jobs. "Looks like everyone's energy returned. They _really_ didn't want to lose the Sindria Trading Company… it's like a home to all of us," said Hinahoho.

With a bag in his hand, Sinbad turned from Hinahoho and Vittel, saying, "Well, I'm off then."

"To that arena?" asked Vittel.

Sinbad nodded and said, "It starts in three days, so I've gotta hurry. I'll be back as soon as the match is over. I'm counting on you 'til then."

"Sure, leave it to me. Be careful and come back in one piece," said Hinahoho as he ruffled Vittel's hair.

"Nah… it it's Sinbad, he'll definitely be fine! He's fought us with his bare hands," said Vittel.

Hinahoho nodded, saying, "He's fought all sorts of people and monsters, so I don't have any worries about his fighting ability… I just worry that in the middle of things, a woman might catch his eye and cause him to lose everything…"

"Hey…" said Sinbad, "Even I keep my public and private affairs separate, Hinahoho!"

Ja'far, Tora, and Tettia walked up and plopped three bags onto the ground. "Wait just a minute, Sin," said Ja'far. "Yeah! Wait a gotdamn second, Captain Moron," said Tora. "We're… going with you," said Tettia. The three of them had a serious and unmovable determination in their gazes.

Pointing at them, Sinbad said, "Ja'far?! What about work…? Tet, you have a place in our work to find. Same with you, Tora!"

With his arms crossed, Ja'far said, "I've already given out all my instructions regarding work. Everything else can be handled by our excellent employees. It's not a problem."

Sinbad's golden orbs widened as he said to the trio, "But this isn't the type of trip you three need to accompany me on…"

Sternly, Ja'far asnwered, "No, it really is. … This whole incident happened because I wasn't paying close enough attention to what those around us were saying."

"I'm just not letting you go alone, Sinbad," answered Tettia, "The last thing we need is for you to fuck it all up because of some woman!"

Tora nodded, "The only woman you _should be looking at_ is Tet, Captain Moron! And you fucking know it! I'm just going because Tet is my best friend and I don't trust her alone with you! I'm afraid all you'll do is get into her pants then dump her."

"Not to mention that you entered _enemy territory_ _ **alone**_ and accepted this _ridiculous_ match! Just what do you plan to do if it's a trap, huh, Sin? You're too egotistical. Just think about how the rest of us feel," exclaimed Ja'far. Sinbad smiled at the young killjoy and he saw that, snapping, "What?! Is there something _strange_ about that?!"

Laughing, Sinbad replied, "Haha! You haven't changed a bit. That part of you is exactly the same as it was the day we met. You're the only one who sees the bad things about me, the things I dislike about myself, and tells me about them so frankly. It's because I have someone like you around that I can be sure that someone's watching my back for me. Thanks… Ja'far." He had walked up to and placed a hand on the young former Assassin's shoulder.

The purplenette huffed to herself, "Fucking Killjoy… if he remembered me, he would've said that about me too."

"You okay?" whispered Tettia to her best friend.

"No, I'm not. I guess my five-year-old existence in this time has been erased, because I'm the same way. He addressed both me and Killjoy when he said that the first time, when Killjoy and I had first known him within months of the other. I guess I just fucking feel… _something_ ," answered Tora in a whisper.

Tettia pat the purplenette's shoulder and smiled, "Don't worry about it. Ya know, I wonder what happened to your five-year-self from this timeline?"

Sighing, Tora answered, "Probably faded from existence… it would cause a big problem if I were still around. Because I was always with Captain Moron when I was five. We would've run into myself by now."

"True. Well, try to worry about it," said Tettia.

When they had finished talking, Ja'far's voice faded into their ears, "…Being left without the head of the Company is _no_ laughing matter, is it?"

Sinbad put his hands on his hips, answering, "I said I'll be fine. You don't need to worry. But… I'll leave behind a plan for the future. Right… to put someone in charge temporarily, let's discuss it and decide together. Wouldn't someone like Rurumu be good? She's got a good grip on things."

Laughing, Hinahoho said, "Hahaha! She might just be better in charge than you."

"I agree! Rurumu is probably better at leading this Company that fucking Captain Moron is," laughed Tora.

"What?! Wait just a minute! I'm here because Sinbad is here. I can't imagine this Company with Sinbad. Please don't say such careless things…!" exclaimed Vittel.

Tettia looked at the pinkish-purple haired man and her crimson eyes softened. "Oh, Vit… that's sweet," she said.

"Of course. I was just joking around," answered Sinbad.

Vittel's face fell as he said, "Sinbad!"

"… _Hmph_. You have the Devil's luck as always, Sinbad…" said Seredine, walking up to the group.

Tettia and Tora looked at the princess and waved at her, "Hello, Seren," they said.

Casting her pink eyes at the ground, Serendine said, "Being kidnapped by a business rival… moreover a female trader… isn't that just like you and your Company?" Her words caused crimson and pinkish-red eyes to narrow to a dangerous point. "With that _lewd_ look on your face, she probably seduced you, too, didn't she?" she continued.

"Watch your mouth, Serendine," growled Tora, "The only woman who seduces Captain Moron is my main bitch, Tet."

"Princess, that's not what…" said Ja'far. However, Serendine continued, "How deplorable… where's your humility as the leader of the Company?" Sinbad frowned and Ja'far said, "She's the same as always… Let's get going before this turns into something troublesome, Sin." Sinbad marched over to the princess, "SIN?!"

Slapping his hand onto the wall beside Serendine's head, Sinbad said, "Young lady… you…" Everyone looked on with bated breath, Tora holding Tettia back. Serendine opened her eyes to see Sinbad leaning against the wall. "Are you… _jealous_? Oh… how nice. All because of me, even though you say you hate me? Is that _really_ okay? …Letting me see such a cute side of you?"

The princess became red-faced, meaning that there had to have been some truth in the Captain's words. "Wh-what are you saying?! I don't… _THAT'S RIDICULOUS_!" she stuttered out.

"But you were waiting here just to see me off, weren't you? Even if you won't admit it, I know it's true. Look…" he reached for her hair, taking hold of a leaf, "there's a leaf caught in your hair. I wonder how long you were waiting here for me? I'm happy, but it wouldn't be good for you to catch a cold waiting our here. Don't worry. We'll meet again soon. After all, I've got you, the Goddess of Victory, on my side, don't I, young lady?" Sinbad said.

Tettia stopped her struggling. The poor half-Fanalis was frozen. Just the possibility that Serendine and Sinbad harbored feelings for each other had her heart aching and caused her stomach to lurch upwards — towards her throat. The crimson-haired woman slumped to the ground, not knowing that she had started crying because of what Sinbad had said. Vittel helped her stand back up, "Tet? You okay?" he asked, unaware of Tettia's feelings for the golden-eyed man.

Despite not knowing the two best friends for long, Marina knew something bad was about to happen.

That was when Tor, not Tettia, snapped. She reverted the spell that made her appear younger, sucked in an angry breath, then marched over to the pinkette princess and Sinbad. Tora ripped Sinbad away from Serendine and looked dangerously into his eyes, warning him in a deep tone, "You _ever_ fucking say that to another woman in front of Tet _again_ , and I will gut you like a fish and make your disemboweled corpse the fucking flag of this company! Understood?" The terror that swirled in Sinbad's golden orbs as he nodded was enough to make Tora smirk, "Good! Now stand back!" Coming to stand in front of Serendine, the purplenette glared a stare of death at the princess. Lifting her hand into the air, Tora's hand connected with Seredine's cheek. A loud slap echoed through the air. " _You!_ You know that Tet has feelings for Sinbad, you have no gotdamn reason to feel jealous… _in the slightest_! Tet has _every_ right to feel jealous if that woman _did_ seduce Sinbad! Now, if you _ever_ let Sinbad talk to you like that again, I will make sure your body is never found! I will ensure that everyone forgets that you ever fucking existed! Am. I. Understood!?" Seredine held her swelling, red cheek as she looked at Tora with tear-filled eyes. Seeing the utter serious gleam in the purplenette's pinkish-red eyes, she nodded, unable to say a word. " _Good_ , glad you understand that I am being serious, _Princess_. Now go the _fuck_ back inside," exclaimed Tora, shoving the pink-haired princess into her handmaidens' arms.

Tettia was leaning against Vittel, her tears no longer flowing from her crimson eyes. Instead, she was filled with irritation. "You know what…" she muttered, then rose her voice, "I don't give a damn if Sinbad even comes back!"

Returning to her best friend's side, Tora stroked her back comfortingly, "You don't mean that, Tet. You care for Captain Moron, you're just upset and hurting right now. Can you _believe_ Serendine had the audacity to think she had the _right_ to be jealous? Oh! That makes my blood boil. She even _knows_ of your feelings, Tet. Anybody in their right minds knows of your feelings for Captain Moron."

Sinbad looked at Tettia and knew he fucked up. Even if he had been joking about Serendine's jealousy, he took the joke too far. He stepped towards Tettia, reaching out to her, "Tet… I—"

"Don't you even _think_ about touching me," growled Tettia, "You lost the privilege to touch me, even if it's a hug. For the time being."

"B-but… I-I was joking! I was teasing her! Why would she like me when everyone knows you do? When did I ever show _any_ interest in her," retorted Sinbad.

As he stepped closer to Tettia, Tora growled, "Back up, _Sinbad_." When Tora used his name instead of calling him _Captain Moron_ , you knew she was being dead serious. "You've hurt Tet enough for one day. Maybe you'll get back in her good graces while we go to the arena. If you still are going with us, Tet."

"Of course I'm fucking going! I'm not gonna let this get in my way! Maybe Sinbad can get back in my good graces," answered Tettia. "Now, let's go, we have three days to get there."

Sinbad was now officially in the doghouse with both Tettia and Tora.

* * *

Three days later, they docked on the island. Ja'far, Tettia and Tora gasped, "A-…amazing! This is… this is…"

"The headquarters of the Mariadel Company… _Ria Venus Island_!" said Sinbad, smiling at them, specifically at Tettia. Huffing, the half-Fanalis looked away from the purple-haired man who was her _lover-in-progress_. That shot Sinbad threw the heart, she was still ignoring him. _Damn… what can I do to get Tet to talk to me again?_ he thought to himself.

" _Ria Venus Island_. One of the main locations of trade owned by the prominent and powerful families of the Mariadel Company. Built to show appreciation to merchants from various places, it became a place where they can privately enjoy popular attractions like casinos and the arena. Now, it serves as a cen—"

"Killjoy… how about shutting the fuck up and looking where Captain Moron went," said a deadpanned Tora.

Ja'far opened his eyes, "Huh?"

Sinbad was gambling, and apparently winning. "Awesome! Ten wins in a row! You just jumped right in, but you're amazing!" exclaimed someone. "To earn that much with a _single_ coin… you have _unbelievable_ luck!"

Smiling to himself, Sinbad bet, "Next, I'll bet… _all of it on Seven Black_!"

Tettia walked over to him and dragged him away from the gambling den, exclaiming, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, SIN?!"

"Ah! You're talking to me again, Tet!" he exclaimed happily. Tettia glared down at him as she was dragging him off; he cleared his throat and continued, "Anyways, this place is full of casinos, right? I thought I'd go in and give it a try, and I kept winning… I think I might really be a talented gambler."

Having let him stand up, Tettia crossed her arms. "Your life is _nothing but gambling_ , Sinbad," she said.

"Be that as it may, is it a gamble to say that I think you're over what happened? Is that why you're talking to me again, Tet?"

The half-Fanalis rolled her eyes and did not answer him. Instead, Ja'far said, "Sin, please stop acting like we're here sightseeing." Sinbad bought some food on a stick for everyone. "This is a _special administrative district_. Although it's a territory of Reim, it doesn't follow Reim's laws, but it's a self-governed region with its own unique laws. Whatever happens here, it's difficult for anyone outside to interfer. It's like a while separate country," explained the white-haired former assassin, "Please don't forget that we're in the middle of our enemy's headquarters…"

"Yeah, don't forget that fucking detail, Captain Moron," spoke Tora, taking the food Sinbad offered her.

Sinbad handed the food to Ja'far and Tora, but withheld giving Tettia's hers. "Want one, Tet?" he asked with a grin.

"Yes. I do, now gimme," came her emotionless answer. Tettia reached for the food, but Sinbad kept it away from her, which was irritating the half-Fanalis.

"Then, if you want it, you have to kiss me," answered Sinbad.

Crossing her arms, Tettia said, "Then forget about it. I'm hungry, but _that hungry_ that I'd kiss you for food, Sinbad." However, her stomach growled loudly, which caused her to blush from embarrassment.

"I think he's learned his lesson, Tet; he's been begging for attention the past three days. Plus, your stomach seems to disagree with your words. Oh, the betrayal!" exclaimed Tora as she ate.

Looking away from Sinbad, Tettia said in a pouty voice, "Fine. I'll kiss you… and stop ignoring you. But, you hurt me like that again, and I will give my affections to someone else. Someone like Vittel, understand me?"

Sinbad stopped walking and wrapped an arm around the redhead's waist, still holding the food. He pulled her close, answering her, "I understand, Tet."

"Okay," she said. Tettia leaned up and kissed the purple-haired idiot on the lips for a few seconds. When she pulled away, she reached for her food, which Sinbad pulled out of her grasp again. "SINBAD!" she exclaimed.

"That wasn't a good kiss, Tettia. Kiss me… _and mean it_ ," said the purple-haired captain.

Tettia rolled her eyes and kissed him again, this time, meaning it. The kiss lasted a god thirty seconds before she pulled away. "Better?" she asked.

Sinbad smiled and kissed her forehead before handing her the food. "Much better. Let's not fight again, okay, Tettia?"

"That all depends on what you say to other women, Sinbad," answered Tettia, taking her food.

* * *

Later, at the arena, Sinbad was about to get checked in. "Past this point, only the gladiators are allowed," said the trio, "Leave your personal effects here. You'll have to use the clothes and weapons they lend to you in the arena."

"Got it," said Sinbad, handing his Metal Vessels to Ja'far.

"…Now you are just a regular guy with no Metal Vessels, just like everyone else," Ja'far and Tora said.

Sinbad smiled at Ja'far, "And just who was it that picked a fight with this normal guy in the past?"

"Please forget everything about my days as an assassin," answered Ja'far.

"Yeah! Let it be in the past, Sin!" exclaimed Tettia.

Smiling at them, Sinbad said, "Well then, see you three later."

As he walked off, Tora said simply, "He's gonna get wrecked…"

* * *

Sinbad was introduced to the arena and his opponent walked out. It was Masrur. A young, seven-year-old Masrur, who was a slave. Shackles were cuffed to his feet and that made Tora's blood boil. "That _still_ pisses me off!" exclaimed the purplenette in a whisper-yell.

"Is that… _Mas_?" whispered Tettia, looking over to her best friend.

"That is indeed. That's why I said Captain Moron was going to be wrecked. He stands no chance against my husband," whispered Tora to Tettia.

Laughing quietly, Tettia said, "That sounds so gross, Tor. He is _seven_ right now."

"And!? Your point? He is still my husband," whispered Tora.

Tettia and Tora then turned their attention back to Sinbad and the young Masrur. "Try not to root for him, Tor."

"I'll try. I remember what happens, anyways. It still pisses me off. Umm Madaura cheated by putting Captain Moron up against Massy. She just wanted Captain Moron to be her slave. I remember having Killjoy prying me off the edge of the ring, I was going to kill Massy back at that moment. After all, he literally decimated Captain Moron in front of my very eyes. And remember that Captain Moron saved my life two years prior to this. I cursed at Umm Madaura, too. Saying how this match was rigged for Sinbad to lose. Screaming how much I was going to kill her," said Tora quietly to Tettia.

"Oh fuck, Tor. It's serious, huh?"

"Yeah. Sinbad temporarily is made Umm Madaura's slave," answered Tora, "Try not to loose your mind, okay?"

"No promises. She lays a finger on my Sinny, I'm going to kill her before Haku can even meet her," snarled Tettia, quietly.

"I don't know if she touches him in a sexual way or not. Can't remember," quietly spoke Tora.


	12. Slaves

**Chapter Twelve: Slave**

 **A/N: Okay, can I just say that I absolutely HATE Umm Madaura. She is literally the definition of a cheating bitch. This cunt purposefully put Sin up against Masrur. Don't understand how Ja'far did not kill this bitch for the OBVIOUS cheating! :C Also, enjoy a Tora flashback!**

* * *

Tettia's eyes were wide and her jaw was dropped. A _seven-year-old_ Masrur was wielding a gigantic sword, which hardly seemed fair considering the regular sword that Sinbad was wielding. "THAT'S SO FUCKING UNFAIR!" she screamed, resisting the urge to jump into arena and assist Sinbad.

"Sin!" exclaimed Ja'far, also finding it slightly unfair that Sinbad was being attacked by a giant-sword-wielding seven-year-old. Masrur swung his sword at Sinbad again, their boss just barely able to dodge it. "He's fast…!" gasped Ja'far.

Tora said, through gritted teeth, "No shit, Killjoy! He's like Tet, but he's a gotdamn full-blooded Fanalis! _Gah_!" The purplenette gripped the divider in front of her. Even though that was her _future_ husband down there fighting Sinbad, right now, Masrur was the enemy. One who had an unfair advantage compared to Sinbad. _Got-fucking-dammit! I am feeling the same rage now that I felt back when I was five and witnessed this_ , thought the purplenette as she growled. Memories came flooding back to her. (Cue the flashback!)

* * *

 _The five-year-old Tora clenched the ledge in front of her so hard, her hands started cramping. Sinbad was having some notable difficulty dodging the slave boy's swings. "FUCK THIS_ _ **BULLSHIT**_ _! THIS STUPID FUCKING MATCH WAS RIGGED BY THAT CUNT MAADER!" she screamed at the top of her lunges._

 _Ja'far looked over at the young, seething spitfire. "Tora… calm down! I don't need you making a scene! And Rurumu would kill me if you died here because you spoke out of line," he said, trying to calm his adoptive sister down._

 _If looks could kill, the ex-assassin would have been dead on the spot. There was an angry, unstoppable fire burning behind Tora's pinkish-red orbs. The young purplenette was intensely gnashing her teeth; feral, angry growls coming from her throat. "Killjoy — I don't give a_ _ **FUCK**_ _right now! I want to beat the shit out of that brat slave boy AND that whore Maader! This is_ _ **obviously**_ _what she had planned from the get-go," sneered Tora._

 _"Even if that is true, there is nothing we can do. This is something only Sin can do," answered Ja'far, calmly._

 _Tora flailed her arms in the air, angrily pointing out that Sinbad was losing. "HE IS ABOUT TO FUCKING LOSE! JA'FAR! THAT MOTHERFUCKER_ _ **SAVED**_ _MY LIFE! I'M NOT ABOUT TO SIT AROUND AND WATCH HIM BECOME THAT CUNT'S SLAVE!" she retorted. As she and Ja'far turned their attention back to the match, they witnessed the slave boy punch Sinbad in the stomach — which resulted in Sinbad's loss. Tora's eyes widened in horror, that was what she feared._

 **Sinbad's loss.**

 _That was when Tora's vision turned blood-red as she screamed a blood-curdling scream and tried to jump into the arena, to kill the slave boy. After she killed him, she would kill the witch behind Sinbad's loss. "_ _ **NOOOOOO! THAT'S IT! BOY! I AM COMING TO END YOUR MISERABLE LITTLE LIFE!**_ _" she screamed threateningly, her eyes narrowed to a dangerous point as she stared at the redhead slave. Then, she casted her eyes up at Umm Madaura — the sleazy scumbag who just wanted Sinbad to be her slave — and screamed, "_ _ **I'M COMING FOR YOUR HEAD AFTER I FINISH THE BOY OFF, YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF DEMONIC, INBRED TRASH!**_ _"_

 _The ex-assassin had to act fast, he instantly wrapped his ropes around the purplenette's body, leaving her unable to move. Tora's body was shaking with an unstoppable fury that coursed through her bloodstream. "TORA!" he shouted, trying to bring her out of her rage._

 _Trashing around, Tora tried to rip Ja'far's ropes off of her. "Let me_ _ **GO**_ _, Killjoy! I am not going to let Captain Moron become her slave like that! I owe him my life, the least I can do is spare him_ _ **that**_ _fucking fate," she exclaimed, almost crying._

 _"There is_ _ **nothing**_ _we can do, Tora. Sin agreed to this stupid match and he lost. We have no power to help him," answered the white-haired boy._

 _"No! There has to be_ _ **something**_ _I can do! I-I… I'll take his place! I'm more valuable than he is," cried Tora. The rage in her body died out and was replaced with sadness. "I-… I was going to be a slave anyways! B… before he saved me! Let me take his fucking place!_ _ **PLEASE**_ _! I-… I can handle it!" She fell to the ground, tears pouring from her eyes as she sobbed, "I can't fucking lose anybody else! Not like I fucking lost Momma and Daddy!"_

 _Ja'far looked at her, as she laid on the ground. He had never known that Sinbad had saved Tora from the life of being a slave. "I don't think that will work, Tora. Sin was the one who's freedom was on the line, not yours. I doubt she will take you instead of him…"_ _There was nothing the ex-assassin could do to stop his adoptive sister's sobbing. It stung his heart._

 _"Sinbad has lost consciousness… which means the winner is… the Mariadel Company's gladiator, Masrur!"_

* * *

Tears streaked down the purplenette's face as she remembered that day in _vivid_ detail. And here she was, _again_. About to watch the same thing happen for the second time. Tora's heart was heavy; so heavy that it hurt for her to breath. When her pinkish-red eyes caught the damage to the arena, her heart became impossibly heavier. Sinbad's loss was almost upon them.

Masrur dropped his oversized sword. _Here it comes_ … thought the purplenette. As the young Masrur bawled his hand into a fist and took the ending swing at Sinbad, Tora squeezed her eyes shut. The tears stinging her eyes. She could not watch Sinbad lose for the second time — the first time was enough to last Tora several lifetimes.

However, instead of the loud painful, breathless gasp of a man, Tora heard the loud gasp of a woman.

"WHAT?!" she screamed as her eyes shot open. In the middle of the arena her crimson-haired best friend stood — having taken the punch for Sinbad. Unfortunately, Masrur's punch was so powerful, it brought both of them down in one fell-swoop. The two of them fell to the ground, limp. "TETTIA!" screamed Tora. _This time was so much worse for Tora_. Not only had Sinbad lost, but Tettia had gotten involved. That involvement would probably lead to Tora's best friend also becoming Umm Madaura's slave — especially since Tettia was half Fanalis. "No, no, no…" gasped Tora, starting to hyperventilate. She waved her hands in front of her body, trying to calm herself down.

"Sinbad and the woman who jumped into the arena have both lost consciousness… which means the winner is… the Mariadel Company's gladiator, Masrur!" exclaimed Umm Madaura's right-hand man.

Tettia and Sinbad were removed from the arena, Umm Madaura smiling evilly. She had not anticipated on a Fanalis going down with Sinbad. "No matter, looks like I now have two new slaves for my collection. And one is another Fanalis, what luck on my end," she said with a dark grin.

* * *

Tora and Ja'far were inside the place when Umm Madaura saw them. "Oh… you two are… the child and young woman who are friends with Sinbad and that Fanalis — _Tettia_ , right — girl, aren't you? What are you two doing in a place like this?" she asked.

Sneering, Tora said, "You fucking pig! You rigged that gotdamn match!"

"Exactly! This match! It was a trap after all, wasn't it?!" exclaimed Ja'far. The two were stopped by guards, so they could not get any closer to the scumbag woman, which was good because Tora was set on killing the demonic-looking woman.

"Give me my best friend back before I fucking slit your throat!" she snarled darkly.

Feigning a smile, Umm Madaura said, "Huh? Whatever do you two mean?"

Ja'far grew irritated and shouted, "There's no way Sin could lose _that_ easily! You arranged all of it, didn't you?!"

"And there's no _fucking_ way that Tet would lose that easily UNLESS she was going up against another Fanalis!" shouted Tora as she gnashed her teeth.

"Of course not. You saw it, didn't you? They both had a fair chance. I may have chosen a rather _special_ gladiator, but isn't that fair when facing a Dungeon Capturer?" asked the slave-owner in response to Ja'far.

Tora growled, "You fucking cunt!"

"But…" said Ja'far.

"If you're _that_ determined to contest it, boy, why don't you ask him yourself? As for you, miss, why don't you say goodbye to your valuable best friend?" Umm Madaura spoke. Ja'far looked puzzled, "Huh?" Tora growled out more curses. Signaling for someone, the dark-haired woman said, "Bring them here."

The two _prizes_ that Umm Madaura had won stumbled forward, being almost dragged by a man. Both Tettia and Sinbad had a neck-shackle that they were pulled by, their hands were bound, and the shackle-and-ball chains attached to their feet, and both of their eyes were dull. Eyes dull due to the fact that they were still recovering from their finishing blow.

Gasping, Ja'far said, with wide eyes, "This… can't be… Sin… Tet…"

Tora looked at Tettia, eyes filled with utter horror and sadness. "T-Tet…" she whispered, her voice choking up.

"If he lost, he would become my slave. That's the contract we made. He accepted those terms and fought the match. I still have the contract. For a merchant, a contract is something binding… isn't that right, Sinbad? Right, Tettia?" she asked her two newest slaves, clutching onto their neck chains.

"…Ja'far… stop… It's just like… she said… I…" Sinbad looked over at Tettia, then continued, " _We_ … lost…"

Unable to accept the fact that Tettia had been taken as collateral, Tora was set on trying to free the half-Fanalis. "The deal was _only_ Sinbad would become your slave, bitch! Let Tettia go!" exclaimed Tora.

Shaking her head and wagging her finger at Tora, Umm Madaura said, " _Tsk, tsk, tsk._ Yes, that was the original price, but since Tettia interfered with the match, she is not exempt from the same punishment as Sinbad. It is not like it would be a bad thing to add another Fanalis to my collection of slaves."

Now it was Tettia's turn to reprimand her best friend. "Tor… _stop_ … I knew that I was… _throwing_ away my freedom… when I decided to jump into the arena…"

Hearing those words, Tora's heart stopped beating for a second. "B-but… Tet… I _can't_ let you be this cunt's slave!"

The sadness in Tettia's eyes was almost tangible, almost suffocating her purplenette best friend. Hanging her head low, Tettia's crimson locks cast a shadow over her eyes. She spoke in an almost inaudible whisper, " _It's not your decision, Tora. It's mine, and I made my choice. This is the ramification for my actions._ "

That nearly crushed Tora. Yes, of course she had heard what Tettia had said. She looked at Tettia, tears pooling at the corners of her eyes. "You _FUCKING_ idiot!"

"Take a look. Even the two who have become my slaves have accepted the reality of the situation themselves," gnashing her teeth, Umm continued, "So, if you two understand now… hurry along and _go home_."

Ja'far seemed just as crushed as Tora did as he weakly said, "This can't be… Sin…" Ja'far and Tora looked into their friends eyes again — the dullness had vanished and it was replaced with confidence.

Turning away from the duo, Umm started walking away with her new slaves, "…Well then, farewell."

Tora looked over at Ja'far and said, "We're definitely coming back here to free those dumbasses, Killjoy."

"Most definitely," he answered, then the two of them walked off.

* * *

"Please! Let me out of here! I'm not lying! I'm your slave, Lady Maader! I respect you and intend to serve you for the rest of my life!" screamed Sinbad, banging on the door of the cell he was in. When he got no answer, he mumbled to himself, "Damn it… what the _hell_ made her so upset? I can't think of anything in particular."

* * *

Tettia sat silently beside her new master. She wished Sinbad was there with her, because she felt so isolated. Isolation frightened the half-Fanalis ever since her parents had been murdered by the same woman who was now her master. Discontent coursed through Tettia's body as she remembered what she had said to Alibaba shortly after they first met: _Boy, I am a half-Fanalis who will never be_ _ **anybody's**_ _servant…_ _ **got it**_ _!_ She laughed, which was more like scoffing, to herself as she thought, _Look at me now, Alibaba… I'm now somebody's slave. I'm so ashamed of myself… would you be ashamed of me, too? Could you still call me your lover, if you were here?_ Closing her crimson eyes, she envisioned her former blond lover and her blue-haired best friend. A small smile graced her lips.

* * *

Sinbad was brought out of his cell, shivering like a leave. Maader brought him into a room with a warming fire and ordered Tettia to hand him a blanket. Without a word, Tettia handed Sinbad a blanket and then stood beside Maader. Turning her attention to Sinbad, she said, "Oh… you poor thing. You're shivering so much… you must have felt helpless in there, didn't you…? But it's fine now. You're safe here. Here…" she took him into her arms, "sleep in mother's arms. You don't have to feel scared anymore…"

"Thank you…" mumbled Sinbad, sinking into her warmth (though he would prefer to be sinking into Tettia's warm embrace), "I _appreciate_ it, Lady Maader…"

Umm Madaura screamed and knocked some stuff over. " _APPRECIATE_ …? Is that what a child should say while being held by their beloved mother?" she huffed, "That's no good… Sinbad… you're still not… one of my _children_. More _punishment_. Take him away, Tettia," ordered the woman.

The purple-haired man grabbed onto the slave-owner's clothing as he exclaimed, pleading, " _Punishment_?! I'm going to be locked up in _that_ room again?! _Please_! I'll do whatever you say. I'll change my bad habits and the way I speak. So please, don't punish me anymore! I can't anymore of that freezing, death-like cold…!"

Glaring down at him, Umm said, "You _still_ don't understand, do you? I don't want to hear your excuses. Until you accept me from the bottom of your heart… until you _really_ become my _child_ … your punishment… will _never end_." She had an evil smile on her face as she said that.

Tettia grabbed Sinbad's arms and started to pull him towards the room again. "I'm sorry… Sin…" she muttered.

"NO! I don't want to go back in there… no, no, no… NOOOOOO!" he shouted. It pained Tettia to throw him back into that cold room, but there was nothing she could do. She had to keep up the rouse that she _loved_ Umm Madaura. Before she shut him in, Tettia gave him a brief kiss on the cheek. So quick that nobody saw.

* * *

Several weeks has passed since Sinbad and Tettia became Madaura's newest slaves. While the half-Fanalis had almost immediately become one of Madaura's _children_ , Sinbad had not. His punishment continued and soon were on the point of actual torture. Both of the once overconfident merchant's mind and body were worn down. Sinbad had, on numerous occasions, tried to Madaura to lessen his punishments — but each attempt backfired horrendously. Soon, Sinbad decided to stop talking, to stop basically having a will left to break.

One day, as he sat ostracized from the rest of the _children_ , Tettia decided to sit beside him. Madaura allowed it, for some unknown reason. "Hey," she began, "saw that you tripped and lost some of your food. Want some of mine, Sin?"

Sinbad looked over at her with such dull, hopeless eyes that they almost looked dead — not even answering the half-Fanalis. As Tettia offered him some of her food, he took it, still not uttering a single sound. The half-Fanalis watched, her heart aching at his current state, as Sinbad silently ate his food.

* * *

Later, Tettia escorted Sinbad to his room, where the young Masrur and two other children lived. "Well, here is your room, Sin," she said.

"Tettia… is he really going to be sharing our room from now on?" asked the little girl.

Smiling down at the young girl, Tettia answered, "Yes. After all, Lady Maader did ask you three to look after him. And we can't say no to Lady Maader, now can we?"

"No, we can't," answered the two young roommates of Sinbad and Masrur.

The boy looked at Masrur, saying, "Masrur, it's the guy that's here because you defeated him, _and_ _Tettia_ , so you gotta look after him!"

Masrur nodded and the young children backed away from Sinbad. "Wah! I'm scared. Don't act up and cause us any trouble," said the girl. "It's okay! Lady Maader said so. We can use our strength to reform him," exclaimed the boy.

"You're funny, kiddo," laughed Tettia, "Masrur and I will reform him, not you two, got it? Wouldn't want ya gettin hurt!"

Sinbad broke his silence, "… the children here really like Lady Maader, huh…"

Gasping, Tettia said, "I'm so relieved to hear you talking again!" The two young roommates of Masrur and Sinbad explained to Sinbad why they loved Madaura. After that, Masrur took ahold of Sinbad's hand and led him underground, Tettia following behind them.

"… that person," said Masrur, pointing to a man, "he's the leader of all the slaves here… You should… introduce yourself."

Tettia groaned, "Oh great, I'm back here again? He creeps me out."

The trio walk up to the head slave of Madaura's company. Taking one look at Sinbad, the man said, "So you're the new slave. The one who came in with Tettia. I heard about you from Lady Maader. I'm Fatima, the head slave here. Just look at you… I guess it's true that you got a lot of punishment."

"You doubted me, Fatima?" asked Tettia.

Fatima looked at her. It was not like he could have been too rude to Tettia, after all, she had quickly become a slave that Umm Madaura had favored. "It's not that I doubted you, Tettia…"

"It's just you fucking doubted me?" she said.

Stepping over to her, Fatima grabbed her with one hand, by her cheeks. "Are you mouthing off to me? I can always find _something better_ for you to do with that _mouth_ of yours. Remember that," he sneered.

Tettia sneered back at him, "I'm not going to suck your dick, Fatima. Only in your dreams would I put your dick in my mouth."

"Seeing as I am in charge of you when Lady Maader is not around, you will do whatever I want, Tettia. If I want you to do it, you _will_ do it!"

The half-Fanalis scoffed, "Then try me, Fatima. See what happens."

Raising an eyebrow, Fatima mused, "Maybe I will, Tettia. Just to show you who's boss."

"Certainly not you," she said.

Fatima growled, "Okay, that's it, Tettia. Soon, I will ask Lady Maader if I can punish you myself."

Rolling her eyes, she snapped back, "And what are you gonna say when she asks for what purpose are you punishing me for? You're just going to tell Lady Maader it's because I said I refuse to suck your dick? So you're going to force me to, anyways? I doubt she would let you if she knew that's what my _punishment_ is. Because, honestly, Fatima, that's not a punishment. That's just a fun time for me."

"No, I won't tell her that, Tettia. I will tell her that you refused one of my direct orders and therefore must be punished," answered the head slave.

"Ooooh, _riveting_ ," Tettia sarcastically said, "Now, can you _please_ let my cheeks go? My face is hurting." Fatima growled as he released her face, knowing he would be dead meat if he shipped her out like he wanted to do. Rubbing her cheeks, she said, "Thanks, Fatima."

Sinbad felt the slight sting of irritation and jealousy in the back of his mind. He did not know if those two were flirting or if Fatima was going to force Tettia to go down on him later on (A/N: do not judge me, guys! It is awkward to say bj because I cannot use abbreviations when I write — it is not my style— and I cannot type out that word). Regardless on what the two slaves were doing, whether it be flirting or the other, it irked Sinbad that Tettia was talking like that to another man — head slave or not.

"Anyways," he said, looking back at Sinbad, "you don't respect Lady Maader. You don't obey Lady Maader. You still can't become one of Lady Maader's children… why in the world is she keeping a guy like you around?" Then taking another minute to look over Sinbad, he continued, "Taking a good look at you… well, you're not bad, but…"

"Mr. Fatima…" called a slave boy, walking up with a line of other slaves, "I've brought you the new ones for today. I'll leave them to you."

The eighteen-year-old head slave sighed, "One thing right after another… there's just no end." The slaves stood in front of them and Fatima started to pick some out. "This one. This one. This one," he said, "All the rest can be shipped out to the slave auction. Also," he pointed to a certain one, "this one is a bit jaundiced. Get rid of it."

The slave boy who had brought the others spoke, "But that's something that happens to children a lot. If you just used a little makeup…"

"You… did you just try to tell me what to do?" came Fatima's sharp, cutting voice.

"…huh?" asked the slave.

Glowering down at the young boy, Fatima said darkly, "How _dare_ **you** , a mere slave, _disobey_ _**me**_ , the head of slaves? The only one in this world that can order me around is Lady Maader. You're not needed here. Ship him out."

"P-please! Don't ship me out… I still want to be here… Mr. Fatima!" shouted the slave. However, it wasn't too late, the boy was already on being loaded up on the ship.

The Mariadel Company managed the special administrative district of Ria Venus Island. However, that was only one side of their business. Underneath, it hid a darker side. _Slave trading_. The dark business of treating humans as mere things that could be bought and sold in the market. In other words, human trafficking. The Mariadel Company supported the slave market and became the world's most prominent company that dealt with the slave trade. They were able to gain such a position because of the way the head of the company divided slaves into groups. In that way, Umm Madaura was able to decide what qualified slaves as different _classes_. Slaves that had few abilities, or were unattractive, or had little worth were given a low class rating. This slaves were _shipped out_ to the marketplace immediately and put up for auction.

However, it was different for slaves given high class rating. They were kept in Umm Madaura's home in order to receive various training and they became high class slaves whose services were offered only to the elite. The _class_ selection determined the course of a slave's life, and the one the dark-haired slave-owner put in charge of making that decision was her head slave: Fatima. "I earned Lady Maader's complete trust," began the head slave.

Tettia coughed, " _Sexual favors_!"

Fatima's gaze snapped torwards the fiery crimson-haired new slave, his eyes narrowing. "I'll show you sexual favors in a bit, Tettia," he spat. "Anyways, as proof of that, my lady has allowed me to act as her right hand, as her head slave. My current position and way of life are both thanks to her… Lady Maader means _everything_ to me." The head slave started gushing, "Ahh… Lady Maader… my _everything_ … our goddess-like mother. It's such a shame that you don't yet realize her magnificence, boy… but don't worry. You'll understand someday. Someday, you'll be filled with adoration…"

"And _yet_ you're _still_ a **slave** , Fatima. She means _everything_ to you, yet you're nothing but a slave to Lady Maader," Tettia spoke, crossing her arms over her chest.

Grabbing Tettia's face once again, Fatima said in a low, threatening tone, "I'm _definitely_ going to make _good_ use of that _**filthy**_ mouth of yours, Tettia."

Tettia rolled her eyes, "I'm absolutely not looking forward to it, Fatima. You'll be oh-so disappointed. My mouth isn't as filthy as you might think."

Once again, the slight sting of jealousy and irritation scratched at the back of Sinbad's still frazzled mind. Just like before, his dazed, almost broken mind could not determine whether Tettia was flirting with the head slave or not. Either way, it continued to irritate the nearly broken man. Sinbad had no idea how Tettia had not broken being Umm Madaura's slave; after all, Tettia seemed like such a free-spirited woman. Surely being held as a slave was having some kind of affect on her. Clearly it was, as she was possibly flirting with Fatima. _When we get out of here, Tet, you're going to get it for flirting with his man_ , thought Sinbad to himself as he looked at the redhead.

"Regardless, Tettia. I'm sure I'll find some way to be satisfied," came his answer.

"Oh, of course. Right! You'll just force me into doing other things, won't you, Fatima? And when our mother asks where I went, what will you say? Hmm? ' _Oh, sorry Lady Maader, I suppose I pushed her a little too far. She cannot really walk right now, I apologize'_?"

"I might tell her that! Should she ask where you are, Tettia."

"Oh, too bad for you, Fatima. My stamina is almost unparalleled. I can go for a while. Sure you're up for that?" snickered the half-Fanalis. _How am I not dead yet?_ she thought to herself. Surely, Fatima would have tortured her by now, had she been an ordinary slave… maybe? Tettia did have an almost instant stamp of approval by Umm Madaura — the slave-owner saying that the half-Fanalis was not to be hurt under any circumstances. Unless being punished for a transgression, then it was perfectly fine.

Fatima smiled darkly as he answered, "I'm sure I can keep up with you, Tettia."

She shrugged, as she replied, "Guess we'll see if you can later, huh?" Fatima laughed darkly, releasing her face again. "You really hurt my cheeks doing that, Fatima," she said, rubbing her cheeks again.

The head slave shrugged, "That's the least of my worries, dear, sweet Tettia."

Sinbad's eye twitched subtly in annoyance. How dare they be doing whatever it was that they were doing. If Fatima touched Tettia, Sinbad would get highly pissed off and might do something to get himself punished again. Tettia was his woman, nobody else's, and anyone who touched her would either die or be severely punished. Or at least, that's what Sinbad would have loved to have done, but he was not in any position to be making threats like that.

* * *

 **A/N: I HAD WAY TO MUCH FUN WITH FATIMA AND TETTIA! I don't know why, but I just made them have such a fucking sexual interaction. (Probably because I am trying to have Tet get back as Sin for what he said to Serendine last chapter) I just feel like that's the type of person 18-year-old Fatima is. Especially since he is technically in charge of Tet. And it's not like he can torture her very much in the way poor Sinbad was, since I think Umm Madaura would keep Tettia in good shape, since she's a highly trained half-Fanalis. And Tet could be utilized in as a gladiator, if Madaura really wanted to do so.**


	13. AN

**So I went on a little hiatus without warning! Sorry, I was doing other writing stuff on another site, and will still be doing that writing, but hopefully I'll be better at writing this ish now! I also lowkey lost my muse for _Adventuring with Tettia and Tora_ and _Magi Adventures!_** **lemme be real.**

That's beside the point, this is to address people who think Sinbad is OOC. Yes, I know and I meant to add that in the description but I ran out of room. I need to put warnings at the beginning of each chapter, but I keep forgetting. Because yes, Sinbad is hella OOC because his relationship with Tet and I apologize for not posting a warning for those who expected Sin to be IN CHARACTER.

As for my characters, if you don't like them, then _oh well,_ maybe don't read this story then? The characters are based off of my best friend and myself and yes we are vulgar and obnoxious when together, therefore I'm not going to apologize—they should get better once the SETTLE DOWN in this timeline. Cuz, if you haven't noticed, they were kind of thrown into an unfamiliar situation: Tora is having to relive the last 10 years or so of her life, while Tettia is thrown into a timeline where she should have still 7 and living with her parents.

I mean, let me explain:  
Tettia's best girl friend just sent them back in time approximately ten years in the past where everyone Tettia's age is either not born or is really young, and the man she was crushing on while trying to make Alibaba jealous is now not 12 years older than her but 3 yrs younger than her. Tet's whole world just got flipped on its head because her _best friend_ Aladdin hasn't even been born yet, Alibaba—her lover, her other best friend—doesn't know who she is and if Tora cannot get them back in their correct time-line, Tettia will never see her friends again. She will never see Aladdin again, will never get to see Alibaba when he comes back from the _dead_ , will never see her adoptive mother again. Just, she will never live the life she was meant to live in her timeline. On top of knowing what's at stake if Tora can't send them back to their time, Tettia is surrounded by people she _never_ knew or knew of. Like, she never heard of Serendine, Mystras, or Vittel because in her timeline, they were never really mentioned. All the people she does know from her timeline neither know who she is nor have they shared the experiences with her that they had in her timeline. Therefore, Tettia sort of has a right to be the _slightest bit_ obnoxious, because that's how she covers up her nervousness.

Tora at least has the advantage of knowing the people her and Tettia are now stuck with. Also, Tora being obnoxious is just how she is, she can be chill but she is really excited/scared that she's back when some of her good friends were alive, before the first Battle of Sindria. Tora is the only one between her and Tettia who the group recognizes. And why do they recognize her? _Because of her vulgarities and obnoxious nature_. Those are her two biggest characteristics and have been since she first joined Sinbad way back when she was eight. She gets angry and violent, especially when something happens to Sinbad and Tettia. The reason she is so upset when Sinbad does something stupid and life-threatening is because Sinbad saved her from slave-traders who were tutoring her when she was eight, gave her a home after her parents were taken and sold into slavery. The reason why she gets so upset when Tettia does something stupid like Sinbad, which is next to never, is because she is the half-Fanalis's best friend and she doesn't want Tettia to kill herself. Because she cares for her red-haired best friend, even if she has a weird way of showing it.

* * *

When I first started writing this, and _Magi Adventures!_ , I did a poor job of fleshing out her and Tora's flaws. But I've taken time off from writing this and went to write other stuff and I've gotten better at fleshing out characters, so hopefully they'll get better? I mean, I'm not promising they won't be any less obnoxious or use profanities less, but I hope they get better from here on out. And I'll fucking _try and remember_ to add a warning in **ALL CAPS AND BOLDED** that Sinbad will more-than-likely be _way_ OOC because of his relationship with Tettia.

Okay, I gotta go now and sorry if I come across a maybe a bitch in this, twas not my intention.

Peace out homies,  
Crona-Cron


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